Sir David: only bloody directors will stop me
♦ Sir David Attenborough has announced when he will finally stop making nature documentaries – when he can no longer climb steps.
The 91-year-old broadcaster who has appeared in programmes for 75 years, once said he would never retire. But speaking to Radio Times, he says he will go when he can no longer meet the physical demands of directors.
In his latest BBC film, Attenborough and the Sea Dragon, about a new species of ichthyosaur found on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, he was asked to climb a spiral staircase. “I did it at least six times because of these bloody directors,” he said. “‘Could you turn sooner? Could you look over here? Could you walk down as well as up?’ If I can’t walk up and down steps any more, that will stop me.”
But Sir David says 2018 is already looking full, with “a couple of Natural Worlds, an overseas project and another big series” on his to-do list.
Attenborough and the Sea Dragon is on BBC One on Sunday at 8pm.