Sir David Attenborough has been confirmed as the presenter of the follow-up to the BBC’s groundbreaking 2006 hit Planet Earth.

The 89-year-old will present BBC1’s Planet Earth 2, a series of six one-hour natural history programmes that will air later this year.

“I am very excited to once again be working with the Natural History Unit on its latest landmark series and am especially looking forward to getting out on location in the next month or so,” said Attenborough.

Charlotte Moore, controller of BBC TV channels and the iPlayer, said that the new series has taken three years to shoot taking advantage of significant advances in filming technology since Planet Earth aired a decade ago.

“A decade on from Sir David Attenborough’s Planet Earth, this new series promises to be an extraordinary experience for our audience,” she said.

The series, which originally used the working title One Planet, uses technology including ultra high definition filming, drones and remote recording.

“Ten years on from Planet Earth, it feels like the perfect moment to bring our audience a series of such ambition, which will change the way we see the natural world,” said Tom McDonald, head of commissioning, natural history and special factual formats at the BBC.