The 96-year-old broadcaster is back on-camera for the Beeb’s brand new nature doc.
Sir David Attenborough is returning to our screens, both as a narrator and on-location, for BBC One’s Wild Isles – a five-parter exploring the wildlife within this country.
Filmed across the Highlands, Cumbria, Oxfordshire, Somerset and other hubs of wildlife, Wild Isles is Attenborough’s first documentary to be shot entirely in the UK – something he was “totally fired up” about, according to the show’s executive producer.
“[Attenborough] said to me, ‘Look, I love doing new, and nobody’s done this, and I’ve never done this, so I really want to do it.’” Alastair Fothergill said.
“But also, he totally agreed and was totally fired up with the promise that given the money, given the time, we could deliver things that would genuinely surprise people.”
Read on to learn more about the new nature series, coming to BBC One this weekend.
Wild Isles start date
Wild Isles with David Attenborough begins on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at Sunday 12th March at 7pm, with the episode, ‘Our Precious Isles’.
The nature docuseries will air over five weeks, with each episode tackling a different habitat found within the UK.
What is Wild Isles with David Attenborough?
Sir David Attenborough’s brand new series Wild Isles celebrates the “rich variety of habitats” in the UK from killer whales and golden eagles, to “sinister woodland plants” that “take pollinating insects hostage”.
The five-parter, which is narrated by Attenborough, investigates how the woodland, grassland, freshwater and ocean habitats are the homes for amazing wildlife across Britain, with each episode capturing “the dramatic and new behaviour” of species in the Shetland Isles, Cumbria, Gloucestershire and other places in the UK.
The 96-year-old host films on location for Wild Isles in several episodes, saying in the trailer that UK nature “rivals anything else [he’s] seen elsewhere”.
“Though rich in places Britain as a whole is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world,” Sir David says on the show (via BBC News).
“Never has there been a more important time to invest in our own wildlife – to try and set an example for the rest of the world and restore our once wild isles for future generations.”
Wild Isles was filmed over the course of three years and 200 shoots, with the longest episode to capture being episode 1, ‘Our Precious Isles,’ which took 382 days to complete.
Where was Wild Isles filmed?
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BBC One’s Wild Isles filmed all over the UK, from the Shetland Isles for the orca sequence and the golden eagles of the Scottish Highlands, to the dormouse of Sussex and Oxfordshire.
Other places that filming took place include:
- Oxfordshire
- Cumbria
- Lake District
- Dorset
- Skye
- Yorkshire Dales
- North Pennies
- Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland
- Somerset
- Avon
- Kent
- Gloucestershire
- Wiltshire
- Islay
- River Stour
- River Avon
- River Frome
- Bass Rock
- Firth of Forth
- Farne Islands
- Northumberland
- Skomer Island, Pembrokshire
Wild Isles with David Attenborough trailer
The BBC released a trailer for Wild Isles in February, teasing the stunning wildlife that’s captured throughout the five-parter.
You can watch Sir David Attenborough in action below:
Wild Isles with David Attenborough begins on Sunday 12th March at 7pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. If you’re looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide and Streaming Guide or visit our Documentaries hub for more news and features.
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