Planet In Peril

Sir David Attenborough’s astonishing new series provides an urgent warning about life on Earth…

- Ian Macewan

Sir David Attenborough’s latest wildlife documentary series, and his first for Netflix, opens with an iconic photograph of Earth taken from space.

It’s an appropriate image to start his latest venture, which highlights the fragility of many of the habitats on our planet – and it’s a picture that the veteran broadcaster remembers seeing for the very first time.

‘I was a BBC executive when that shot was taken from Apollo 8 in 1968,’ he explains. ‘I remember seeing it on the monitors at the BBC and thinking: “That’s unbelievable.” It changed the attitude of humanity.’

As well as bringing us remarkable footage of wildlife from around the globe, Our Planet offers a timely reminder of the destructive impact human activity has had on Earth’s flora and fauna.

‘We have become the greatest threat to the health of our home, but there’s still time to address the challenges we’ve created – if we act now,’ says Attenborough, for whom the global reach of Netflix was an incentive to get involved in the project.

‘We need the world to pay attention, and Our Planet has brought together some of the best film-makers and conservationists to tell this important story to millions of people worldwide.’

The eight-part series shows the ways in which different species and habitats are closely connected to each other, as well as to natural phenomena, such as rainfall and ocean currents. ‘I’ve been active in the conservation movement since the 1950s,’ says