EXCLUSIVE: The BBC is planning to mark 50 years since the production of Life on Earth, the David Attenborough series that set the template for modern natural history content.
The BBC’s Natural History Unit is beginning work on Life on Earth at 50 (working title), which will reflect on the making the of the 1979 series and its influence on wildlife content.
BBC sources confirmed that the special is underway and there is optimism that Attenborough, now 98, can be involved in the celebration.
Attenborough no longer does location work for BBC natural history shows, but continues to narrate sweeping series such as the recent Asia.
Life on Earth was the BBC’s attempt to provide an authored overview of nature, in the same way that Kenneth Clark examined art, architecture, and philosophy in Civilisation.
A BBC source said: “Life on Earth was a pivotal series in global natural history filmmaking, so naturally the BBC will be marking this anniversary.”
The show took three years to produce, opening in the South American rainforest and journeying to the Great Barrier Reef. Many creatures and behaviours were captured on film for the first time, including the courtship displays of birds of paradise.
Attenborough allowed the pictures to do the talking, but the times he did appear on camera were memorable. The scene of Attenborough sitting with a group of mountain gorillas in Africa is an iconic moment in British television history.