David Attenborough is planning to make another landmark natural history series for BBC1, RadioTimes.com can reveal.


The veteran broadcaster, 87, is expected to produce a high profile natural history programme along the lines of Frozen Planet and Planet Earth before his 90th birthday, the BBC’s head of science and natural history Kim Shillinglaw told RadioTimes.com.

There had been speculation that Attenborough would not be making any large-scale multi-part series for BBC1 due to his age, health and the demanding schedules for such landmark programmes.

Shillinglaw said that plans were in train for another large scale Attenborough project on the lines of Frozen Planet.

“Is it the end of David’s landmark series? God no. He is doing a couple of things for us and there is a landmark in the pipeline which is quite a long way off,” she said.

When pressed she said it would likely to be aired in “two or three years time” but did not reveal further details.

Shillinglaw added that Attenborough is also due to front a smaller scale series about animal evolution for the BBC later this year.

Attenborough’s most recent multi-part collaborations with the BBC have been Frozen Planet in 2011 and Africa at the beginning of this year – topping and tailing each series with filmed reports. He also presented a short series at the end of last year celebrating his 60 years as a wildlife broadcaster. But increasingly he’s concentrated on smaller scale projects for both the BBC and Sky, the latter for whom he has made programmes since 2010 and experimented with 3D.


Speculation about his future reached a peak recently when he was forced to delay a speaking tour of Australia to have a heart pacemaker fitted. However, the tireless presenter has just been passed fit to travel and is due in Melbourne next week.