MUMBAI: The hidden stories of our planet's oceans are to be told in a new BBC commission, Ocean, a documentary series for late 2008/early 2009. This is a co-production with Discovery and will be filmed in HD.

The proposed team of intrepid adventurers – explorer Paul Rose, maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue and marine biologist Tooni Mahto – will take a journey to explore the oceans of planet earth. Hidden in these unknown depths are stories that reveal new truths about our past, our planet and the life within it.

In Ocean, the international team of underwater explorers brave the dangers of the deep to unravel these mysteries.This series will tell stories from the world of underwater archaeology, geology, marine biology and anthropology.

It will take in everything from great white sharks to lost cities buried undersea to divers who try to fathom the mysterious life forms of the deep. Filming starts in June 2007 in the Mediterranean and will finish in June 2008.

The show's executive producer Anne Laking said: "It took us nearly a year to find the right people to present such an exciting new series. They needed to have the right balance of robust scientific knowledge, first-class diving skills as well as genuine drive, passion and thirst for high octane adventure.

"The series will show the ocean as it's never been seen before. We'll use cutting-edge techniques to delve into this unknown world of our wonderful planet.