Sir David Attenborough will explore the wildlife of British gardens for the first time as part of a season of programming marking his 100th birthday.
The BBC has commissioned new shows to celebrate the natural historian’s centenary birthday in May.
This will include a documentary on his groundbreaking 1970s series Life on Earth, as well as a five-part garden series.
In Secret Garden, due to be broadcast in April, Attenborough will visit five British backyards across Britain. Using specialist filming, the series will capture pine martens in the western Highlands, dormice in south Wales, swallows in the Lake District, otters in Oxfordshire and blue tits in Bristol.
Sir David Attenborough will celebrate his 100th birthday with a look at the wildlife in British gardens
BBC/PA
The BBC said the series would show that there was no “cosy existence” for the animals of Britain’s gardens where, despite the “beautiful and seemingly genteel surroundings, the rules of the wild still operate”.
It added: “Through meeting the gardeners that have created these wild oases, we discover how our nation of animal lovers and gardeners can do their bit to save struggling species.”
The celebrations on May 8 will culminate with a live broadcast from the Royal Albert Hall. The BBC Concert Orchestra will perform original compositions from the naturalist’s many series.
Attenborough’s collaborators over his 70-year broadcasting career are also expected to provide reflections on his career at the event and hopes are high that he himself will appear.
Jack Bootle, the BBC’s head of specialist factual commissioning, said the “special week” would be a “celebration of an extraordinary milestone and of a body of work that continues to inspire awe, curiosity and care for the natural world”.
It was also, he said: “A moment for all of us at the BBC to say thank you to David — for his generosity, for his brilliance, and for a lifetime spent bringing the wonders of nature into our homes.”
The new documentary Making Life on Earth — featuring recent interviews with Attenborough and his collaborators on the seminal 1979 programme — is set to revisit some of his greatest moments, including his encounter with gorillas in Rwanda’s Virunga mountains.
Attenborough with a harvest mouse
JOE LONCRAINE/BBC
As Attenborough perched among the troop, and a young gorilla attempted to remove his shoes, he famously told the camera: “There is more meaning and mutual understanding in exchanging a glance with a gorilla than any other animal I know.”
Attenborough’s collaborators are also expected to recount the difficulties they encountered shooting the series, which was watched by about 500 million people around the world.
The corporation will also broadcast some of the Attenborough’s “greatest hits”, including episodes from Planet Earth, Blue Planet, Frozen Planet and his most recent documentary, Wild London.
The scale of the celebration indicates Attenborough’s status as Britain’s, and arguably the world’s, most renowned broadcaster.
“It’s impossible to overstate what Sir David Attenborough has given us. His programmes have not only defined science and natural history broadcasting, but they have also changed how we see our planet and our place within it,” Bootle said.