♪♪
ATTENBOROUGH: The Great Barrier
Reef is in grave danger.
NARRATOR: For over 65 years,
Sir David Attenborough has been
the voice of the natural world.
He's taken audiences
to the most extraordinary places
on the planet,
inspired generation
after generation...
ATTENBOROUGH: The blue whale!
NARRATOR: ...and he's become one
of the most loved
and respected
broadcasters of our time.
ATTENBOROUGH: There it is.
NARRATOR:
David Attenborough's life is
one of the most remarkable
in broadcast history.
BROWN:
He'll be remembered as the man
who created natural-history
programming on such a scale
that it became
a global phenomenon.
WHITWORTH: He had a way
of explaining difficult issues
and taking people
to these amazing places
that was deceptively simple.
ATTENBOROUGH:
The Galápagos Islands.
These have been called
nature's greatest experiment.
YENTOB: So, the truth is there's
no one like David.
NARRATOR: In a career that spans
the age of television itself,
David has produced some
of its most iconic moments...
ATTENBOROUGH: Aha!
NARRATOR: ...and he's pioneered
new filming technologies
to bring his stories to life.
ATTENBOROUGH: Nobody has ever
dived as deep as this before
on the Great Barrier Reef.
NARRATOR:
But audiences rarely get to
see the man behind the lens.
ATTENBOROUGH:
Don't you start that! Oh, dear!
Someone said, "If you're
tired of the history of life,
you really must be
tired of living."
I can't believe that's true.
That's utter [bleep]
[ Laughter ]
NARRATOR:
Now, bringing together footage
from behind the scenes...
ATTENBOROUGH: Yeah?
NARRATOR: ...intimate interviews
filmed on location,
and highlights from
his groundbreaking films...
ATTENBOROUGH: Oh!
NARRATOR: ...this is "David
Attenborough's Life Journey."
♪♪
NARRATOR:
As one of the world's most
respected wildlife filmmakers,
Sir David Attenborough
has dedicated over 65 years
of his life
to traveling the globe,
gaining a unique insight
into the changing natural world.
ATTENBOROUGH:
I'm on a fantastic journey
to look for the origins of life.
I shall be traveling
not only round the world
but back in time
to try and build a picture
of what life was like
in that very early period.
NARRATOR: The images of wildlife
he's brought into
our homes have revolutionized
our understanding
and appreciation of nature.
From below the waters
of the Pacific...
to high above
the tropical rainforests...
♪♪
...and even deep inside
the secret world
of bugs and plants...
Attenborough's films
have taken viewers to places
they'd never been before.
ATTENBOROUGH: He is, arguably,
the rarest animal in the world.
NARRATOR:
David's landmark series have
been seen by billions of people
across the globe.
And this popularity
now allows him to highlight
the extreme challenges
facing our changing world.
ATTENBOROUGH: This is the planet
on which we live.
It's the only one we've got,
and we've got to protect it.
BROWN: I actually can't think
of anybody else
who has had such
a positive impact.
YENTOB: His ability to share
things with people,
to make you look at the world
in a way
that you hadn't quite before.
WHITWORTH: I mean, he's
our greatest communicator.
♪♪
NARRATOR: But how did Sir David
Attenborough become our planet's
most revered conservationist?
And why has he been loved and
admired by so many for so long?
♪♪
David's fascination
with life on Earth began
when he was a young boy,
collecting fossils
near his home in Leicestershire.
ATTENBOROUGH:
This is the Charnwood
Forest in Leicestershire.
As a schoolboy
I grew up near here.
NARRATOR: It was the discoveries
David made here in the 1930s
that inspired his lifelong
search to uncover the secrets
of the natural world.
ATTENBOROUGH: When I was a boy
growing up in the Midlands,
in Leicester,
the rocks and limestones you
found in the east of the country
were full of the
most magical things.
You hit a stone,
and it suddenly fell open,
and there was
this amazing coiled shell,
beautiful and extraordinary,
and nobody had seen that for
So I thought it was
very romantic and exciting.
And it appealed
to the small boy's instinct
of collecting things.
To be honest
I don't think I've really lost.
But anyway,
I certainly had it then.
NARRATOR:
The awe and wonder first
experienced by that 7-year-old
was nurtured
by his academic parents.
David was the middle of three
sons born to Mary and Frederick,
his eldest brother, Richard,
growing up
to become an Oscar-winning
actor and director.
The family lived in the grounds
of Leicester University.
ATTENBOROUGH:
That was the university --
Well, it was, as the press were
quick to point out,
a lunatic asylum,
and it was taken over by
the University College, you see.
And we lived in that, which was
the superintendent's house,
which is College House.
Then there's a big park,
the Victoria Park.
And there's my father.
He was Principal of the
University College in the 1930s.
And there he is,
looking younger than me.
Though he didn't have any hair,
but not since he was
about 28, I think.
[ Chuckles ]
NARRATOR: David's early passion
for the natural world
won him a scholarship
to Cambridge University.
This enabled him to indulge
his growing fascination.
But though he would
eventually go on to present
and narrate hundreds of hours
of films,
surprisingly, his long career
in TV began quite by chance.
ATTENBOROUGH:
I saw an advertisement in
The Times for a sound radio job,
which I applied for,
and didn't even get an interview
but some week
or so afterwards I got
a letter from someone
who said they'd got this
new thing called television.
Was I interested?
And then they said they
would pay me a thousand pounds
to go on the training course,
and that was three times
what I was being paid
at the time in the publishers,
so I thought well, I'll give
it a go.
NARRATOR: Television in the '50s
was brand-new,
with the BBC broadcasting
the first programs in Europe.
David had never seen
a television program before,
but even so, began work
as a production assistant.
ATTENBOROUGH:
I was apprentice to a producer
who was regarded
as a very experienced man
because he'd been there
for three months
and he'd already produced
one program, you know,
so he knew where everything was.
NARRATOR: Within a few years
of joining the BBC,
David helped launch
"Zoo Quest,"
one of the very first
natural-history series.
It would give him the
perfect opportunity to travel
and film the remotest parts
of the world.
ATTENBOROUGH: I had a friend
in the London Zoo
and he and I cooked up an idea
that the London Zoo should send
out a collecting expedition,
which of course
we wouldn't conceivably do now
but in those days
it was possible.
And the idea would be
that I would accompany this chap
who was an expert on snakes and
I'd see him pouncing on a snake
and then from that film sequence
we would go to him
in the studio live,
with the same snake
and he'd be
able to talk about the details,
and that was the basis
called "Zoo Quest."
NARRATOR:
At first, David's bosses
rejected him as a presenter
because they felt
his teeth were too big.
But then something unexpected
happened.
ATTENBOROUGH: Jack Lester, who
was the man from the Zoo,
had acquired a tropical disease.
He collapsed after
the first show,
and the head of my department
or the head of television
actually said, "Oh, look,
if Jack Lester can't do it
the show's got to go on.
The only other person that could
do it is Attenborough.
Tell him that he's got to leave
the producer's gallery
and go down on the floor
and do it."
BROWN:
What I really remember about
"Zoo Quest" is just adoring it
and making a date to watch it,
and I was a really small child.
I was absolutely determined
to watch David.
Now, I think the reason was that
he had this natural
personal charm
but he also knew what
he was talking about.
He has this massive fan base
that has been accruing
over the years
and "Zoo Quest" was
the beginning of it.
ATTENBOROUGH: We spent the first
part of our trip in Paraguay...
NARRATOR: From those first
moments in front of the camera,
David had plenty of time
to hone a presenting style
that would become loved
the world over.
MAN: Okay, David. And action!
ATTENBOROUGH:
Nobody knows why he's pink.
[ Laughs ]
NARRATOR: But even after decades
of practice,
delivering his lines takes
more effort than meets the eye.
On location in Australia,
David's going through a ritual
he's performed thousands
of times before.
MAN: So what is the piece
in your head now?
ATTENBOROUGH: Um. [ Laughs ]
Very good question.
You've got to convey something,
some fact.
You've got to get it right.
In 1946 geologist
Reg Sprigg found a fossil here
near the Ediacaran Hills.
And once having got it
right in your mind,
you then try
and put it into words.
Which, until that moment,
had been -- until then. No.
And the first words
that come out of my lips
at any rate are jumbled
and confused and circumlocutory
and fumbling for exactitude.
But it was the discovery of,
uh...
It's very difficult
to think about anything
when someone's fumbling
in your genitals.
[ Laughter ]
It's sort of tricky.
But it was a discovery in 1957.
I have to walk up and down
and say it to myself
and hope I'll be
able to say it to the camera.
GEFFEN: David is as close to
a one-take wonder as you get.
Once he's gone through
the "Attenborough preparation,"
it's just almost fail-safe.
It just comes out.
ATTENBOROUGH: In 1946,
an Australian geologist,
Reg Sprigg, working here
in the Ediacara Hills
of South Australia...
NARRATOR:
David's trademark delivery
has endeared him to millions,
and back in the '50s,
the producers of "Zoo Quest"
saw this talent grow.
[ Up-tempo music plays ]
BROWN: It's this thing
of being personable
and not talking down to people,
talking to you.
NARRATOR:
He was given the job of
presenter on a permanent basis.
ATTENBOROUGH: I explained to
the men as best I could
that I'd come to their valley
to try and get some of the birds
of paradise alive.
♪♪
NARRATOR:
David's ability to present
his lines on the first take,
even under pressure,
is something his
camera crews came to rely on.
On Loch Lomond in Scotland,
David's team is planning an
ambitious sequence with swans.
But filming animals is
never straightforward.
LEE: We want to film David
with a group of swans
flying alongside him as he goes
along the loch in a boat.
It should be amazing.
[ Swan honks ]
NARRATOR: To do that,
the team would need the help
of some very accommodating swans
and their handler, Rose Buck.
[ Swans honking ]
ATTENBOROUGH:
She has this extraordinary
empathy with animals,
and you can see
her love and understanding
of them, and them of her.
♪♪
NARRATOR:
For the sequence to work,
the birds have to fly within
With Rose positioned
just out of the shot
and calling from the front
of the boat,
the flock begins to follow.
But the big challenge is
to get David to deliver
his lines together
with the flying swans.
NARRATOR: They're doing their
best, and they're following you,
but they don't
necessarily understand exactly
where they ought to be
for the camera.
They behave marvelously,
but sometimes they don't realize
that they should have been
on the starboard side,
and they are on the port side.
I mean it takes a long time.
♪♪
NARRATOR:
After several failed attempts,
the weather turns for the worse.
The team has one last chance.
♪♪
GEFFEN:
Eventually the magic happened.
The swans absolutely hit it.
♪♪
ATTENBOROUGH: When you are close
up to a flying bird
like this, you can see
what a wonderful piece
of complex engineering
their wings are.
Able to change their shape
and their beat
to respond to every
little change in the currents
of the air around them.
And so propel them forward
and lift them upwards.
Ooh!
[ Laughs ]
♪♪
NARRATOR:
David had brought another
spectacular sequence to life.
GEFFEN:
I think that because David grew
up in an era where, you know,
you only had one or two
rolls of film, he knows
that you have to do
things precisely.
You don't just film it
constantly.
He is a man of the moment.
He knows when the moment is big.
♪♪
NARRATOR: Over nearly 70 years
of filmmaking,
David has encountered many
different species of animal.
ATTENBOROUGH:
There we are. Come on, boy.
NARRATOR:
His love for them is famous
and has made him popular
with audiences across the world.
But what's less well-known is
that
when David started out
presenting "Zoo Quest,"
he ended up taking some
of the animals home.
ATTENBOROUGH:
It didn't necessarily follow
that the Zoo wanted everything
that I brought back.
And so I found myself doing
all sorts of barmy things.
NARRATOR: David's family home
became a menagerie,
with his wife Jane and children,
Susan and Robert, helping
with the upkeep of the animals.
ATTENBOROUGH: We had a pair of
lemurs at home.
And chameleons.
We had a breeding colony
of bush babies.
They had an unfortunate habit
of peeing on their hands
and then rubbing
their hands together
and patting everything
around to make them smell good.
Friends coming to dinner
would arrive and open the door
and you could see them
dilate their nostrils
and think, "That's not
mulligatawny soup, you know.
What is it -- What are we having
for dinner tonight?"
And I will regret
to say it was bush baby urine.
So, after a bit,
my dear wife thought
that this was not compatible
with domestic hospitality
and one thing and another,
and so we got rid of them.
NARRATOR: David's lifelong
fascination with animals
is equaled by his
unstoppable love of adventure.
In the forests of Borneo,
David wanted to film
a rare tree frog
high in the canopy.
But to do this, David, the
cameraman and all the equipment,
must be winched up
over 100 feet.
MAN: Yeah.
GEFFEN: This just shows David's
incredible zest for adventure.
At the age of 88, he's prepared
to be pulled up a tree.
MAN: It feels like
it wants to tip you out.
ATTENBOROUGH: Does it?
MAN: So that's
why we've got the harness on
and we'll put a backup line
on the harness.
ATTENBOROUGH: I knew there'd be
a reason for the harness.
-MAN: Okay?
-MAN #2: Good luck.
MAN: Up on orange. Down.
Just face the tree.
Fend yourself off.
♪♪
ATTENBOROUGH:
The suspense is k*lling me.
MAN: Is that a joke --
a hanging joke?
ATTENBOROUGH: [ Laughs ]
♪♪
NARRATOR: Filming 100 feet up
in a tree is a major challenge.
But David knows
the effort is worth it
because this frog can do
what most others cannot.
ATTENBOROUGH: The tree frog has
a remarkable trick for defense.
♪♪
It glides.
It has membranes
between greatly elongated toes
so that each foot becomes
a parachute
which slows the frog's descent
and so enables it to make
a relatively safe landing.
♪♪
NARRATOR:
Going to such extremes has made
David one of the most recognized
and respected faces
in television the world over.
-ATTENBOROUGH: I do my best.
-MAN: Please keep it up.
It's the only stuff on telly
worth watching.
NARRATOR: His popularity spans
every generation.
And this level of fame
was something
he had to get used to early
in his career.
By the mid 1960s,
David Attenborough had become
a household name.
BROWN: He was dashing.
He was always rushing around
in slightly unbuttoned shirts
and just the excitement too.
Seeing him in these very
sometimes incredible locations,
he somehow made them alive.
MAN:
Mr. David Attenborough here.
NARRATOR:
Then, still in his 30s,
an unexpected opportunity came
David's way.
The BBC needed young blood
to run their brand-new
channel, BBC 2.
ATTENBOROUGH: I remember
deliberately saying to myself,
"Now you've got to make up
your mind, Attenborough.
Are you a television man
or are you
some kind of scientist?"
And I decided at that time
that I was really, at heart,
a television man.
Therefore, if I was a television
man, there could not
be a more interesting job
in the whole of television
than that one
that was being offered to me.
We shall continue
to look for the new stars,
the experimental stars.
NARRATOR:
As controller of BBC 2,
David introduced a new wave
of programming
that would stand the test
of time.
BROWN:
He made BBC 2 a channel which
could carry serious programs
but with a popular touch.
YENTOB: The BBC 2 that I came
to run was the BBC
where the DNA
had been implanted by David
with fantastic conviction
and ambition and creativity.
NARRATOR: David also pioneered
a whole new era of television
as the BBC raced to make Britain
the first nation in Europe
to broadcast in color.
ATTENBOROUGH: And I was
thinking, "Oh, you know,
come on, the BBC should be
the first to color in Europe."
And it suddenly dawned on me
we could use color cameras
in Wimbledon, and with
just four or five color cameras,
which was all I think we had,
we could get hours and hours
and hours of color television.
We would launch as soon
as we could do at least 50%
of the programs in color,
and Wimbledon allowed
us to do that.
[ Applause ]
NARRATOR: Even while David held
this desk job,
he never lost his famous love
of adventure.
And he escaped whenever he could
to film in remote locations.
It's a passion
he's kept his whole career.
MARTIN: Every day is
a highlight for me.
ATTENBOROUGH: Of course it is,
Martin, thank you very much.
MARTIN: This one is the best
so far, definitely.
ATTENBOROUGH:
What was wrong with yesterday?
MARTIN: Well, we weren't
filming, David.
ATTENBOROUGH: Oh, yeah,
you're quite right. [ Laughs ]
♪♪
NARRATOR: David is heading high
into the Rocky Mountains.
He may be in his 80s
on this sh**t,
but David's determination is
as strong as ever.
MAN: We've planned this
in so many ways.
We've discussed having
helicopters airlifting him
up in a sling underneath.
We've had the possibility
of a sedan chair
to come up here, but actually
David's perfectly fine
and perfectly willing
so all our anxieties
are evaporating away really.
ATTENBOROUGH:
I may be some time.
NARRATOR:
The struggle will be worth it.
At the summit, David finds one
of the richest fossil locations
in the world.
ATTENBOROUGH: Here, they are
found all over the place.
They're called trilobites.
That's the head.
There's the middle bit.
NARRATOR: But filming at
the top of a mountain
is not without hazards
as the weather closes in.
ATTENBOROUGH: Okay, fellas,
he says it's time we left.
[ Helicopter blades whirring ]
-MAN: There you go.
-ATTENBOROUGH: Thanks a lot.
-MAN: No problem, eh?
-ATTENBOROUGH: Really great.
-MAN #2:How was it, David?
-ATTENBOROUGH: Ah, terrible.
[ Laughs ]
NARRATOR:
Back in 1973, David felt
he wasn't getting to explore
and film these far-flung
places as much as he'd like.
So he resigned
from BBC management.
ATTENBOROUGH: I was fretting a
bit and concluding that my life,
the rest of my life, was
not to be spent behind a desk,
I couldn't bear it.
And so I managed to resign
after 8 years of administration
and the first thing
I did on having resigned
was the head of the natural
history unit came to see me
and said, "Look, don't you think
it would be a great idea
if we did a 12-part series
about the natural world?
And would you do it?"
"Oh," I said,
"what a good idea."
NARRATOR: The series was called
"Life on Earth."
It gave David the opportunity
to go to the places
he'd always dreamed of
and to see the animals
he'd always wanted to see.
And it would define David
as the world's
greatest natural-history
presenter.
BROWN: What you find with
"Life on Earth" is
you find him inventing
really a new genre
for programs about
the natural world.
It had a huge impact.
WHITWORTH:
He talked very simply and
explained things to those of us
who don't have degrees
in botany or degrees
in zoology what was going on
and linked everything
together so brilliantly.
NARRATOR: The groundbreaking
series would produce one
of the most iconic moments
in TV history.
ATTENBOROUGH:
So, it seems really very unfair
that man should have chosen
the gorilla to symbolize all
that is aggressive and violent
when that's the one thing
that the gorilla is not
and that we are.
The reason we'd gone to gorillas
was in order
to illustrate a point
I was making about
the evolutionary significance
of climbing primates,
climbing mammals,
who had to grasp branches,
and to grasp a branch you need
to be able to put your thumb
and your forefinger together
like that.
I suddenly felt a weight
on my feet
and there's a baby gorilla
undoing my shoelaces.
Well, it didn't seem
to be the right moment
to be talking about the thumb
and the forefinger,
and while I was concluding
on that,
a hand came down on my head,
and there was the adult female
and she opened my mouth
and put her hand,
a huge great hand, and stuck
her finger in my mouth.
By this time I was
in a sort of delirium really.
I mean, it just seemed
paradisial,
absolutely extraordinary,
took my breath away.
It did cause a huge sensation.
I mean -- [ Laughs ]
It's quite odd.
BROWN: You're with him there
and you're charmed.
He could charm a gorilla.
He could charm millions
of people around the world.
NARRATOR: "Life on Earth"
was the first series
in an extraordinary body
of work for the BBC.
WHITWORTH: He went to these
incredibly exotic places
and he made those places seem
beautiful, fragile, important.
The effect was
to say these are places
that we need to cherish
and protect.
NARRATOR: Over 30 years, David
set out to tell the stories
of every major animal and plant
group on Earth.
Each series pioneered
new technologies
that are still used today.
Cutting-edge time-lapse cameras,
super slow motion,
infrared,
and underwater photography
allowed David to showcase
the natural world
in a completely new way.
MARTIN: David's always had
a great interest
in exploring new technologies.
It has defined his career.
Every new series
he has worked on,
there's a new camera,
a new style of filming,
something in the technology side
that has taken that series
on to a new level.
WHITWORTH: He was a technophobe
himself, really.
In his personal life
he was about the last person
in Britain, I think,
to own a fax machine
but he loved embracing the
new technology for filmmaking
because he wanted to make films.
NARRATOR: In 2008,
David finally completed
the last of the landmark series
he'd set out to film.
And at the age of 82,
many assumed a comfortable
retirement beckoned.
But then, in 2009, David set out
for a new major location sh**t.
Filmmaker Anthony Geffen
had tempted the legendary
broadcaster back out
on the road with a project
he couldn't resist...
"First Life."
GEFFEN: I'd known David
for a long period of time.
I mean, I knew him when I was
at the BBC 30-odd years ago.
I knew he was passionate
about fossils, so in a way,
if he was going to make
one series,
it was probably going to be
about fossils.
But I knew one thing --
David always likes
to do things differently.
He doesn't like
to repeat things.
NARRATOR: Anthony suggested
a new approach --
a series about
the first animals on Earth
but one that would bring
the past to life
with new scientific scanning
and advanced computer graphics.
GEFFEN:
His face lit up and I think
that whole idea
of semi-retirement
probably fell away for a moment.
ATTENBOROUGH:
For the last 30-odd years,
I've been filming
the range and variety
of animals and plants
that live on the world today.
What has been missing is
the very beginning of the story.
We've always started
at chapter two.
And so I just want to go back
and show
where this whole thing started.
MARTIN: It was the prequel.
It was the prologue
to his entire
"Life on Earth" series,
and he always had in his mind
that he wanted to make
this film.
And it wasn't until 2010
that the technology was there
to do that.
ATTENBOROUGH: The really
thrilling thing for me
is that, by using
computer graphic imaging,
you can take these tiny
little marks
and with total justification,
scientific backing,
you can make that animal
really come to life,
come out of that rock and move.
♪♪
NARRATOR: But before the fossils
could be brought to life,
the team had to find
the best specimens they could.
ATTENBOROUGH:
We're here for trilobites.
Trilobites are
the most extraordinary,
wonderful fossils.
Very, very fortunately
the world's greatest expert
on trilobites, Richard Fortey,
an old friend of mine,
is here to show us around.
FORTEY:
It's a nice little specimen.
Well, ah,
I've never seen a trident-bearer
with a great long flared
medium prong on its trident.
So either it's true,
in which case it's weird,
or it's been, let's say nature's
been helped along a little bit.
ATTENBOROUGH: If it's fake,
it's carefully done.
FORTEY: I've seen lots of
different ones in my time,
but I've never seen that before.
Well, maybe it's pathological.
ATTENBOROUGH:
Ah, A diseased trilobite.
FORTEY:
We don't want none of them!
ATTENBOROUGH: [ Laughs ]
FORTEY: Not round these parts.
ATTENBOROUGH: [ Laughing ] No.
FORTEY: We don't want anybody
catching anything.
MARTIN: It was a bit like
being on location
with a couple of school kids.
I mean, they suddenly -- they
seem to draw this sense of fun
out of each other.
It was great to see.
I mean, David was having a lot
of fun in Morocco.
WHITWORTH:
He loved it. He loved it.
He loved the camaraderie of
being on the road with a crew.
NARRATOR:
As filming moved to Australia,
the veteran filmmaker continued
to relish the experience.
GEFFEN: I think the side
most people don't know about
David Attenborough,
except you can see glimpse
of him behind the scenes,
is that he has
an amazing sense of humor.
ATTENBOROUGH: It's one of the
rewards, you know, that you get,
the real joys
of driving up there
and then they say,
"Would you drive back?"
And then they say, "We think
we'd like it a little faster."
Then they say, "We were wrong.
It was better slower,
so would you go back again?"
It's actually not the pits
of filming.
The pits of filming is
when you have to walk
through the forest
looking interested.
And not only interested
but eagle-eyed.
Where will this experienced
traveler suddenly spot,
and my goodness, there!
That's hard doing.
There are variations.
You can give them the John
Wayne, which is tight-buttocked
and I sort of strut like that.
That's one of my specialties
actually,
but I'm not allowed
to do it much these days.
I have to be more slouched
and relaxed, you know.
But, of course, intelligent.
That's the tricky bit.
[ Laughs ]
GEFFEN: When you're filming,
he's always chuckling away
about something.
I think it sort of -- It's
a way of disarming
that barrier that could be
between the team and him.
NARRATOR: I loved it when you
asked us to do it again
only just slightly faster.
What a thrill.
MAN: We only had your enjoyment
in mind.
BROWN: What Atlantic Productions
offered to David
was to be part of a team again.
He was in some ways I think
after the death of his wife
a somewhat lonely figure,
and so this gave him
a community really.
MARTIN: He loves the social
side of being on
a sh**t as much as anybody else.
ATTENBOROUGH: They only come
in ones, do they?
MAN: No, no. Limited edition.
Limited edition U2 wafers.
ATTENBOROUGH: Being part of
a team is one of the pleasures.
It takes some time
to become a team.
You can't just slot in like that
because it depends upon
knowing the personalities of
the people you're involved with.
I suppose in one way
if you're going on long journeys
together with people,
you ought to be...
to do a job, you ought
to be sufficiently professional
to be able to get on
with anybody
and if you find that the way
they comb their hair
or something is irritating,
then you learn
to suppress that irritation.
But then one of the ways,
once you begin to sort that out,
you do begin to develop jokes
between you.
NARRATOR:
Although David and the crew
certainly had fun filming
"First Life,"
the story of the very first
living creatures on Earth
held huge importance for David.
ATTENBOROUGH:
I'm on a fantastic journey
to look for the origins of life.
GEFFEN:
At the very end of the series,
pretty much the last sequence
we were on,
in Heron Island, on the beach,
and it was
sort of extraordinary.
I think this whole experience
of going on the road again
and filming
an international series
was a big thing for David.
And he actually got --
he doesn't get very emotional
very often,
but he got very emotional,
and it took me by surprise.
ATTENBOROUGH: This program means
a lot to me actually.
And rather surprisingly I didn't
realize how much it meant to me
until I started doing it.
Because I have spent,
over the last 25,
of programs
about different groups
of animals
as they've emerged
through evolution,
and I've never made anything
about the very beginning
of life.
So this series to a degree
which I really didn't
fully appreciate
until I started working on it
really completes the set.
Some creatures managed
to crawl up onto the land,
but all of us alive today
owe our very existence to them.
Well, in a curious way,
in the end,
the end of my last making series
like this, is my beginning.
♪♪
NARRATOR:
Going back on the road had been
such a rewarding experience,
David was keen to keep going.
It was the start of a new
and hugely prolific
phase in his career.
David understood that to reach
out to a younger audience,
he had to work even harder.
And he saw that
by cleverly combining CGI
and the latest camera
technology,
he could once again tell
natural-history stories
in a completely new way.
After advanced animation,
the next exciting leap
in wildlife filming
was to add an entirely new
dimension to the story...
...a move that would take
David away from the BBC.
WHITWORTH: When he was offered
the chance to do things
like the 3-D films,
he thought that was fantastic.
And that's
why he went off to Sky
to do these things
which the BBC were not doing.
ATTENBOROUGH:
When the proposal came up
that we should do a program
in 3-D, I was very excited
because when I started
in 1952, we had black
and white cameras and
then upgraded further into color
and now into high definition,
and now into 3-D,
and I'm delighted to be around
while it's happening.
I've never worked
with a crew as big as this.
WOMAN:
I thought we were doing quite
well keeping our numbers down.
ATTENBOROUGH: Well, you are.
How many are you?
-WOMAN: About 12.
-ATTENBOROUGH: 12?
I normally work with
two other people --
cameraman and recordist.
[ Laughs ] Yes, yes.
MARTIN: 3-D is an incredibly
difficult medium to work in.
It's almost like going back
to working in film.
You've got these
incredibly heavy cameras.
In fact they're
two cameras bound together.
It's very technical.
You've got to get the focus
and you've got to get
the distance
between the cameras
exactly right.
All these very technical things
that make directing
a traditional documentary
really hard.
You can't react
to situations that well.
NARRATOR:
Despite the challenges,
David was determined to take the
He headed
to the remote Galápagos Islands
of South America.
ATTENBOROUGH: 3-D properly used,
it seems to me,
can give the viewer more
of a feeling of being there,
more of a feeling
of the reality.
So, we'll see if we succeed.
NARRATOR: The new technology
would capture one of David's
most memorable moments.
MARTIN: Lonesome George was
an icon of our time.
He was a representative
of everything
the Galápagos stood for.
He was the last one left
of his species,
the rest of his kind
driven to extinction
by the pressures
of living in the age of man.
ATTENBOROUGH:
Nobody went to the Galápagos
without visiting
Lonesome George.
I had met him before on
earlier trips to the Galápagos,
but we asked to go
and see him again.
And the authorities were, very
properly, protective of him.
We could only do it
before the gardens opened,
and we could only be allowed
with him
for just a very few minutes.
So we all got up in the dark,
and Lonesome George was asleep,
so we got a camera in position
and I crawled in and waited for
Lonesome George to wake up.
And I waited a long time,
and I thought maybe
we've come too late,
and he isn't going to wake up
at all.
But eventually he did.
MAN: Action.
ATTENBOROUGH:
He's about 80 years old
and he's getting a bit creaky
in his joints.
As indeed, am I.
He is, arguably,
the rarest animal in the world.
Certainly, there can be
none rarer,
for he is the last of his kind.
When he dies, the Pinta species
of Galápagos tortoise
will be extinct.
But he is
a very important animal.
Probably more
than any other single creature,
he's focused the attention
of the world
on the fragility
of our environment.
I delivered my piece to camera
and then just at
the right moment
Lonesome George heaved himself
up and just moved slowly away
and that was that --
my interview was over.
Just 14 days after we filmed
Lonesome, he died in his sleep.
GEFFEN: It was just one of
those moments filming in
natural history because there
was David and Lonesome George
and Lonesome George's
last big appearance,
and it was --
it was really extraordinary.
NARRATOR:
By the time filming wrapped
on the Galápagos series,
the team had captured a
breathtaking variety of animals
both on land and in the sea.
[ Tapping on glass ]
But arguably David's
most surprising 3-D film
was captured much closer
to home,
in one of London's
iconic museums.
Remarkably, at the age of 86,
the legendary presenter
completely reinvented himself
and bravely stepped
into the unfamiliar world
of acting for
"Natural History Museum Alive."
MAN: Take one.
ATTENBOROUGH:
Funny way to earn a living.
GEFFEN: Here we were talking
about a new genre
which had David acting
where we were going to have to
create CGI in and around him.
NARRATOR: The team's first test
is to bring to life one
of the most famous
extinct animals of all,
the dodo.
-MAN: Speed mark it.
-WOMAN: Seven, take two.
MAN: Camera set.
GEFFEN: Action.
ATTENBOROUGH:
Ow! Hey! Well, that's a --
No, not very good.
I'll do it again. Ow!
GEFFEN:
It was quite hard for David.
It was quite a hard film
to make.
Here he was, way out on a limb,
if you like,
from being the Attenborough
that everybody knew before,
having to act,
and that was right on
the edge of his comfort zone.
David felt quite vulnerable.
ATTENBOROUGH:
So no one knows how big it was.
But after tonight, who knows?
-GEFFEN: Cut! Brilliant.
-ATTENBOROUGH: I'm not an actor.
It's not my skill, and so you do
feel a bit of a "nana" really,
so when they say,
"Look out, it's attacking you,
look horror," aaah!
In fact it may well have been
adapted to crushing of stones.
Not very good.
I just hope it will work.
NARRATOR:
When the final graphics are
added to David's performance,
the scene starts to take
on a magical life.
♪♪
What do you make of that?
[ Laughs ]
Ow! [ Laughs ]
That's a very powerful beak.
NARRATOR:
But it wasn't until the first
screening, a Royal Premiere,
that David would see
the finished film
and his acting debut
for the first time.
GEFFEN: David was very anxious
going into the premiere.
He hadn't seen the final film
and kept saying,
"Is it alright, is it alright?"
I said, "It's going to be fine,
David.
Don't worry about it."
♪♪
ATTENBOROUGH:
I suspect I'll find its look
rather unnervingly familiar.
I was a bit worried as to
whether people would think
it was too flippant.
But we took a lot of trouble
to make sure
that each of the stories
actually had solid
scientific information into it,
and it was very successful.
People apparently loved it.
[ Cheers and applause ]
NARRATOR:
David's leap into the unknown
was rewarded with one of
the industry's highest honors.
GEFFEN: I have to say that it is
a pretty extraordinary night.
David Attenborough
has now won in
black and white, color, HD, 3-D,
and now the first winner of
a BAFTA Award, I believe, in 4K.
[ Cheers and applause ]
David always says awards
don't really matter,
but he has a lovely habit
which he goes home --
everything gets put away, none
of his awards are on display,
but for a week
after he wins an award,
you always see it
on the mantelpiece in the hall,
and it's sort of
his little thing
that he's won an award.
[ Cheers and applause ]
NARRATOR: Despite having now won
every major industry award,
David had no intention
of slowing down.
At the age of 88 he was about to
begin filming again for the BBC
on one of his
most important series to date.
♪♪
The team traveled to Australia
to sh**t a major series
on the Great Barrier Reef,
somewhere David had
first visited over 60 years ago.
In 1957, David filmed underwater
here for the first time,
with nothing more than
a single camera and scuba gear.
ATTENBOROUGH:
It wasn't bad actually,
paddling around in the water
and sticking my hand in
a giant clam and looking brave.
But it was very primitive.
The camera was wound up
by clockwork.
NARRATOR:
But this time David had
a new way to get underwater...
a state-of-the-art submersible.
GEFFEN: David was fascinated
by the idea of going back
with the new technology,
with the new science,
and seeing the reef
and uncovering the reef
in a whole new way.
ATTENBOROUGH:
This is the first time that
a submersible like this
would ever dive
on the Barrier Reef,
so it's
a pretty important moment.
PAUL: The first time we went in,
we were both doing it
together for the first time,
so we were both feeling
the same excitement
of going underwater
in this bubble.
♪♪
NARRATOR:
David and Paul are rewarded
with some spectacular sights...
ATTENBOROUGH: Ah, how beautiful.
NARRATOR: ...that prove why
the reef is one
of the most dazzling habitats
on the planet.
ATTENBOROUGH: Wow!
It's jolly nice
that someone of my age
can be taken down
in fantastic comfort.
He's coming right at us.
No problem about breathing,
no problem about talking,
no problem about your movements.
Ah, there's a huge shark!
You're just sitting there,
as it were, in an armchair
and looking at one of the most
extraordinary places on Earth.
A privilege given to very few.
Don't you -- Don't you start
that. Oh, dear!
NARRATOR: The series achieved
all the spectacle and awe
that Attenborough films
are expected to deliver.
ATTENBOROUGH: What I enjoy about
making these programs is saying
"Look at this.
Isn't it fabulous?"
and "Don't you enjoy
looking at this?
Aren't you struck by
its wonder?"
NARRATOR: But David was
deeply affected by the changes
he saw in the reef,
and in the final episode,
he added
a very personal message.
ATTENBOROUGH: The Great Barrier
Reef is in grave danger.
The twin perils brought
by climate change,
an increase
in the temperature of the ocean,
and in its acidity
threaten its very existence.
If they continue to rise
at the present rate,
the reefs will be gone
within decades.
And that would be
a global catastrophe.
DAVIS: David is very aware
that this --
we're handing on the world
to the next generation,
and I think that's all
summarized beautifully
in his last piece to camera.
ATTENBOROUGH:
They are among this
planet's richest, most complex,
and most beautiful ecosystems.
Do we really care so little
about the Earth
on which we live
that we don't wish to protect
one of its greatest wonders
from the consequences
of our behavior?
BROWN: I think he's angry
and I think that
that anger was allowed to show.
WHITWORTH: For many years,
his documentaries did not have
an overt environmental message
in them,
so when he did speak,
that was very shocking.
People were "Oh, wow.
This is something we do need
to sit up and take notice of."
NARRATOR: During his lifetime,
David has witnessed
enormous changes
across the natural world.
The ozone hole was discovered,
global warming was detected,
and extinctions increased.
WHITWORTH:
He gradually was becoming more
outspoken about the environment.
ATTENBOROUGH:
The abundance of life
and the variety of life
touches the human imagination
and the human spirit,
and it's very precious.
NARRATOR:
Then, as David turned 90,
he had the chance to deliver
his message on a new platform.
WHITWORTH:
I think the real landmark
was when he was invited to the
White House by President Obama.
OBAMA:
Sir David Attenborough, thank
you so much for being here.
As I was telling you on
our walk over,
I have been a huge admirer of
your work for a very long time.
WHITWORTH: I can't think of
another example
when a president
of the United States
invites somebody to the White
House and interviews them.
OBAMA:
What are the prospects for this
blue marble that we live on?
ATTENBOROUGH: This is the planet
on which we live.
It's the only one we've got,
and we've got to protect it.
BROWN:
The president of the United
States is at his feet really.
I mean, they are both
equals in that interview.
That's the thing.
And it did make Obama bolder
in accepting
that climate change needed to be
absolutely top priority.
NARRATOR: The historic meeting
also gave David
increased confidence
to speak out.
BROWN: It gave him a license
really to be himself
and to actually say what he
believed was wrong with the way
we were ruining our environment.
ATTENBOROUGH: Plastic is so
permanent, so indestructible
that when you cast it
into the ocean,
or indeed into your dustbin,
it does not go away.
WHITWORTH:
He really communicated for
people in their living rooms
the threat
that was facing the planet.
ATTENBOROUGH:
If we don't take action,
the extinction of much
of the natural world
is on the horizon.
Together we can make
real change happen.
WHITWORTH: He was campaigning
on the future of the planet
in documentaries
that were seen by
hundreds of millions of people.
NARRATOR: Nearly 70 years
after he first started out,
David Attenborough is
once again changing
how millions of us
look at the world.
PAUL: You encounter so many
people who say
that their lives have been
changed by David Attenborough.
There's scientists who
say, "I wouldn't be doing this
if I hadn't watched those
David Attenborough programs."
He's the voice of Mother Nature.
I mean, he just --
when you hear that voice,
you know
that you're not being fed
a line.
You know you're getting
the facts.
ATTENBOROUGH: I have to confess
I'm fascinated by armadillos.
As far as I'm concerned,
they're some of the nicest
and most curious
animals in the world.
I'm on the edge
of a coral reef at low tide.
And top of the menu
right now is salmon.
PAUL: He's irreplaceable.
There will --
Nobody can replace him
because he is totally unique.
GEFFEN:
To have had the opportunity
to work with one of the world's
greatest storytellers
and to have got to know him,
I just feel incredibly lucky.
WHITWORTH: I think David
will be remembered
as our greatest broadcaster.
♪♪
♪♪
To learn more about
what you've seen
on this "Nature"
program,
visit pbs.org.
♪♪
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