Running down the centre of the Atlantic is a vast chain of volcanic mountains, 10,000km long – the mid-Atlantic Ridge. As underwater volcanoes erupt they create new seafloor – but occasionally eruptions are big enough to rise above the surface as tiny, isolated islands.

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Born of fire, these islands are sterile when created, but even the most remote have been colonised by life. They teem with life from huge penguin colonies to species found nowhere else on earth. Because so many are remote they have acted as crucibles of evolution shaping life in unexpected and dramatic ways.

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Thrushes that once fed on seeds have evolved a taste for meat and green turtles have become extreme navigators. On this journey we’ll explore the natural history of these remote Atlantic islands, from Iceland in the north to those fringing Antarctica in the south.