A new television documentary from BBC will showcase The Great Barrier Reef and the producers say that its likes have never been seen.

The Nine Network agreed to be the Australian partner and co-poducer of the three-part doco included in the distinguished BBC Earth Series which will air in 2012.

The director of photography will be cameraman and biologist Richard Fitzpatrick.

"It's the biggest series ever done on the reef, the most technology ever thrown at it," he said.

"It goes from deep sea - we're filming a thousand metres down - way up to the mangroves and rainforest, saying how everything's interconnected."

The reef's creation will be explained through animation and at the same time, climate change threats will also be presented in the series.

"It will be the past, the present and a bit towards the future," Mr Fitzpatrick said.

The filming for the doco may take about a year. It will also involve Mr Fitzpatrick's Digital Dimensions opening offices in Cairns and Townsville and a large studio that needs to be constructed at the James Cook University.

"We're using super-macro and robot camera techniques that we've only just recently developed," Mr Fitzpatrick said.

"It's a massive first time thing for the BBC to actually outsource it to an Australian production company."

The series is said to be narrated by a leading Australian actor and will be seen by 200 million viewers.

"The value towards tourism will be enormous," Mr Fitzpatrick said.