Part one this BBC portrait of Charles Darwin focuses on his early life and influences tracing his maturation as a naturalist from his birth in Shrewsbury, England to the publication of his key work the Origin of Species. To provide a contextual base for Darwin's revolutionary ideas, the program examines his key influences including Thomas Malthus and Robert Edmund Grant as well as his life changing experience as the ship naturalist on the HMS Beagle. Featuring Darwin Biographers Janet Browne, James Moore, and Adrian Desmond as well as noted scholar Robert M. Young, the program will provide students with the personal and historic background key to understanding the work and life of Darwin.