David Attenborough is this week's Radio Times cover star

The presenter showcases more wonders of the natural world – and ponders the fate of Pacific green turtles.

Sir David Attenborough for Planet Earth III sitting down in a wooded area

BBC/Mark Harrison

Published: Tuesday, 17 October 2023 at 12:32 pm

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There was a moment in 2001 when Sir David Attenborough went global, as his longtime BBC colleague Mike Gunton told us in our 100th anniversary issue. We had just witnessed the attacks on the Twin Towers and climate change was becoming an issue. It was the right time for Attenborough to amaze the wider world about the natural wonders of our planet.

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This week sees Sir David – now 97 – present Planet Earth III, which has been made by Gunton and focuses on the species struggling for survival in the face of global warming. Aside from filming in turtle breeding grounds off the Great Barrier Reef that Attenborough first visited more than 60 years ago, the crew also headed to Down House in Kent, the home of Charles Darwin.

“Once Darwin had established the idea of natural selection, everyone looked at the natural world in a different way,” Gunton tells us in the new issue of Radio Times. “Now, in the 21st century, evolution is taking a different turn.”

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The story of evolution is also at the heart of Life on Our Planet, a natural history series released next week on Netflix and made by the former head of the BBC’s Natural History Unit, Alastair Fothergill.

“Attenborough’s Life on Earth was an amazing achievement but the story was told entirely with modern-day animals,” Fothergill tells us. “But 98 per cent of the animals that ever lived are extinct.” Which is why he turned to Steven Spielberg to deploy CGI image-making to bring them back to life.

That Netflix, like Apple TV+ before it, is now using British natural history film-makers to tell the story of our world is proof that the Attenborough effect still has a powerful hold on our imaginations. With climate change now an existential challenge, you could say we need this kind of TV more than ever.

Sir David Attenborough Radio Times cover

Also in this week's Radio Times:

Planet Earth III launches on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Sunday 22nd October at 6:15pm. Life on Our Planet arrives on Netflix on Wednesday 25th October.

Check out our lists of the best series on Netflix and the best movies on Netflix, or see what else is on with our TV Guide. Also visit our dedicated Documentaries hub for more news.

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Authors

Laura Rutkowski

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