<\/p>
Picture the scene. It\u2019s September 2019. A rowing boat eases its way steadily across a sparkling Croatian lake. Pulling purposefully on the oars is none other than David Attenborough, then a mere 93 years of age. But he has company. Hidden beneath a tarpaulin in the stern of the boat is not, as you might expect, an outboard motor, but Mike Gunton, the executive producer of the TV series Attenborough is making. He\u2019s there as the health-and-safety contingency, but the purity of the shot (Attenborough alone, at one with nature) means he\u2019s covered up.<\/p>\n
In any case, Attenborough is enjoying himself and, it turns out, has a point to prove.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I can do a bit more,\u201d he insists, turning down the offer of rowing support from Gunton, who\u2019s now emerged from beneath the tarpaulin. And on Attenborough rows.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen David was at Cambridge he was a rugby player and when I was at Cambridge many years later I was a rower,\u201d explains Gunton. \u201cHe said, \u2018We rugby players always thought we could row better than you rowers\u2019 so this was him proving that we \u2018wet bobs\u2019 \u2013 as he calls us \u2013 weren\u2019t as good at rowing as the rugby players. That is classic David.\u201d<\/p>
This new series, The Green Planet, is also \u201cclassic David\u201d. A largely unseen vocal guide to many of the most recent landmark natural history programmes, Attenborough is back on location for this stunning and thought-provoking deep dive into the world of plants.<\/p>\n
The filming schedule has taken him around the world \u2013 almost certainly the last time he\u2019ll travel to so many far-flung places for one series. We see him in the freezing high Arctic, in the baking deserts of America, on a gondola high up in the tree canopy of Costa Rica and, closer to home, in Kew Gardens, the place, probably more than any other, where he feels most comfortable and where we catch up with him.<\/p>\n
Attenborough\u2019s been here, as he was yesterday and the day before, since 6:30am. This morning he\u2019s observing the awakening of the humble daisy. Thermal cameras show how the warming rays of the sun prompt the daisy to emerge from its petal-perfect slumber and invite the attention of pollinators. It\u2019s simple, but beguiling stuff.<\/p>\n
Next, Attenborough is invited to perch on the exposed root of a 150-year-old oak tree. He remains awkwardly seated (on the face of it very patiently) for upwards of an hour delivering a few lines of dialogue while cradling a cross section of oak from another tree that, like him (it\u2019s all in the planning), is 95 years old.<\/p>\n