Into the archive

We pick some of Sir David’s most memorable series from a natural-history career spanning seven decades.

LIFE ON EARTH 1979

The first true blockbuster wildlife television series, Life on Earth offered a crash course in evolution, delivered by Sir David across 13 episodes. His encounter with mountain gorillas in Rwanda (episode 12) remains one of his best-known moments.

THE TRIALS OF LIFE 1990 Focussing on rites of passage in the animal world, such as birth, growing up and fighting, this series delivered iconic wildlife film-making moments, including orcas hunting sealions off Argentina, and Sir David himself sitting among 120 million red crabs on Christmas Island.

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF PLANTS 1995 A series showing plants in a new light, demonstrating how they – like animals – must fight, compete for mates and establish territories. During his botanical crusade, Sir David introduced the world’s smelliest flower, Titum arum, and the discovery that it is pollinated by bees.

PLANET EARTH 2006

Snow leopards stole the show in this ground-breaking 11-parter, which delivered the first intimate shots of the species ever filmed in the wild. The series became part of a franchise, with its sequel airing in 2016 and the third instalment expected in 2022.

ATTENBOROUGH’S PARADISE BIRDS 2015

Birds of paradise are one of Sir David’s lifelong passions – he was first to film many of their dazzling displays in the jungles of New Guinea. This film explores myth, science and behaviour, and what these birds can tell us about evolution.

BLUE PLANET II 2017

This seven-parter exploring the variety of life in the world’s oceans will always be remembered for the ‘ Blue Planet effect’ – the global conversation about the damage caused by plastic pollution. Not to mention, of course, Percy the cockle-cracking tuskfish.