Ocean with David Attenborough
It’s once more unto the breach for David Attenborough at the age of 99, as he returns to the ocean for one last, urgent entreaty on behalf of the planet. Has any naturalist ever been so well known and well respected? Who will be able to step into his shoes when he’s no longer around?
There have been plenty of earlier occasions when Attenborough has taken us to the depths of the ocean, most notably in the 8-part TV series, The Blue Planet (2001), but there’s a special urgency about this final plunge. For the past two decades, Attenborough has been exploring the consequences of global warming, most thoroughly in The Truth About Climate Change (2006), but all his late films have highlighted the damage we are doing to the environment.
From the moment he became a household name with the series, Life on Earth (1979), Attenborough’s method has been to infuse us with wonder about the natural world. His documentaries have been mesmeric, incorporating state-of-the-art camerawork and the latest scientific expertise. He has taken viewers all over the planet, to jungles, deserts and the polar icecaps, often in the space of a single hour.