A blockbuster natural history series, voiced by Sir David Attenborough, sounds quintessentially BBC. But this landmark wildlife programme is being made by Netflix.

The US streaming giant has poached Sir David, alongside the director of BBC series Planet Earth and Blue Planet, in a bid to beat the BBC at its own game.

Our Planet is billed as a “groundbreaking” eight-part series, filmed in 50 countries over four years, documenting wildlife from the Arctic wilderness to the jungles of South America. It “will showcase the planet’s most precious species and fragile habitats, revealing amazing sights on Earth in ways they’ve never been seen”.

The programme will alert viewers to the dangers facing the planet, hoping for a similar effect to last year’s Blue Planet II which highlighted pollution in the oceans.

The BBC holds up its natural history documentaries as an example of what only the BBC can do. But Netflix wants to encroach on that territory, just as it did with drama by producing critically-acclaimed The Crown and House of Cards.

While Sir David is a free agent and has previously made programmes for Sky, he has a 40-year association with the BBC and is regarded as one of the corporation’s biggest star names.