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Sir David Attenborough is Being Honoured With a Week of Special Programming on the BBC
Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday will be celebrated with the launch of three new shows.
The TV legend reaches the milestone on May 8 and the BBC is marking the occasion with a week of special programming to honour his legacy, airing some of his classic wildlife series as well as new documentary Making Life on Earth: Attenborough’s Greatest Adventure, which charts the making of the 1979 BBC One programme.
Jack Bootle, head of commissioning, specialist factual at the BBC, said: “It’s impossible to overstate what Sir David Attenborough has given us.
“His programmes have not only defined Science and Natural History broadcasting, but they have also changed how we see our planet and our place within it.
“This special week is a celebration of an extraordinary milestone, and of a body of work that continues to inspire awe, curiosity and care for the natural world.
“It’s also a moment for all of us at the BBC to say thank you to David – for his generosity, for his brilliance, and for a lifetime spent bringing the wonders of nature into our homes.”
Attenborough’s birthday week also includes the debut of his new five-part series Secret Garden, which explores the hidden worlds of wildlife within Britain’s gardens with each episode taking place in a very different backyard across the UK.
A statement posted by the BBC, explained: “In Secret Garden, he’s turning his attention to Britain’s backyards.
“Over five episodes – set in five very different gardens across the UK – David reveals the lives of the often charming, occasionally daring, always secretive animals that inhabit the hidden world right on our doorsteps. Theirs is no cosy existence – even in these beautiful and seemingly genteel surroundings the rules of the wild still operate.
“From pine martens in the Western Highlands to dormice in South Wales, swallows in the Lake District to otters in Oxfordshire and blue tits in Bristol, the series reveals not just a rich and surprising diversity of life but also how each species finds its own way to live alongside us.”
The BBC will also screen David Attenborough’s 100 Years on Planet Earth, a live event at London’s Royal Albert Hall featuring the BBC Concert Orchestra and a number of special guests.
During the week, the BBC will also air classic episodes from Attenborough’s shows including Planet Earth II, Seven Worlds, One Planet, Blue Planet II, Planet Earth III, Frozen Planet II, as well as his recent offering Wild London, which debuted this year.
The Attenborough shows will all air on BBC One and stream on iPlayer on the week of 8 May. The iPlayer will be packed with content, including a specially-themed section containing over 40 programmes.
BBC Radio stations will also join in during Attenborough’s birthday week, but the organisation has yet to announce details of the plans.
—Reuters
