‘WHAT A TREASURE’
Attenborough’s latest series has elevated broadcaster to hero status
Seven continents, 41 countries, 499 days spent travelling to 92 separate shoots — the BBC has poured unprecedented resources into Sir David Attenborough’s latest series, Seven Worlds, One Planet.
But where once such figures were held up as a sign of the dedication of the filmmakers involved, now — in this era of acute climate consciousness — they raise a different question: is it worth racking up such a heavy toll in carbon to show us the damage humans are already doing to the world?
Attenborough took two flights during the filming of Seven Worlds, to Kenya and Iceland, but insists each was justified both in terms of carbon and cost.
“I don’t think people should fly just for the hell of it,” the 93-yearold broadcaster says. “Apart from anything else, the BBC would be absurd to spend money on flights that are not essential or important.”
When we meet in a bar adjoining a Leicester Square multiplex following the première of the first episode of the new series, surrounding streets are under Extinction Rebellion blockade. Attenborough has arguably done more than anyone to push conservation to the top of the political agenda. Has he considered joining their ranks?
“For young people, it’s their world,” he says. “Lots of them haven’t got political power, so they’re making their voices heard, and who can blame them? My role is a different role. I’m an old guy in his 90s. I can provide information about certain things, but they have their own voice and don’t need to look at me.”
But look to him they do. In recent years, Attenborough has gained messiah status among the young. Demand for tickets to an early screening of Seven Worlds late last year was akin to that of the Glastonbury Festival.
That he is still travelling at all is a sign of his robust health. He has outlived many of those closest to him: his beloved wife and mother of his two children, Jane, who died of a brain hemorrhage in 1997, and brothers Lord (Richard) Attenborough and John.
“I am absolutely persuaded there has been a major change in the attitude worldwide to the natural world,” he says. “These programs get huge audiences and they are not just entertainment. It’s stuff that is beautiful, lovely and enriching.”
He believes young people are hardwired with an appreciation of nature that only becomes lost as we grow older. He recalls walking with his godson in the Oxfordshire countryside and seeing the youngster’s delight at discovering a slug on a stone.
“He said ‘What a treasure!’ and, of course, he’s right,” Attenborough says. “If you lose that interest, you’ve lost one of the most precious things going. If you haven’t got that as a continuing thread in your own mental life, you are much the poorer for it.”
The series, four years in the making, contains the array of natural wonders audiences have come to expect: from the largest gathering of great whales ever recorded to the golden snub-nosed monkey.
Each episode of Seven Worlds, One Planet explores one of the continents — how it influences animal behaviour and how humankind has changed it for better and worse. In response to the devastation caused by the fires in Australia, it will debut with the Australian episode and let viewers know how they can support relief efforts.
As with his recent blockbusters such as Blue Planet II, which prompted an outcry over the proliferation of plastic in the oceans, the damage humans are wreaking on the planet takes centre stage.
“The evidence is there now and the facts are absolutely clear,” Attenborough says. “Putting aside whether mankind is or not is responsible for this change, and I think it is, we know what we can do whatever the cause, and we know how we can stop the accumulation of carbon dioxide and we know that will have an important effect.” The Sunday Telegraph