Broadcasting
The years he spent running things rather than presenting them, 1965 to 1973, which are the thinnest part of the visual record: almost no footage of the period survives. BBC Two under his controllership carried Britain's first regular colour service from 1 July 1967, which happened because it was the 625-line channel already built for colour, not because he introduced colour television. Civilisation and Monty Python went out in that window; The Ascent of Man did not, transmitting in 1973 after he left. The story that he turned down the Director-Generalship is repeated everywhere and is not established.
Part of David Attenborough
46 moments in this segment.
- - 1972: DAVID ATTENBOROUGH on BBC Two's purpose | Late Night Line-Up | BBC Archive. Attenborough discusses BBC Two's purpose on Late Night Line-Up in 1972, the year he left the executive track. He was Controller of BBC Two from March 1965, then Director of Programmes for BBC television, before resigning to return to programme making.
- - DAVID ATTENBOROUGH interview from 1974 | Personal Account | Classic TV Interview | BBC Archive. A 1974 interview with Attenborough, two years after he stepped away from BBC management. He was widely expected to be a candidate for Director-General and chose to return to programme making instead; that a formal offer was made and formally refused is not established.
- - Life on Earth press portrait, 1982. Life on Earth transmitted in Britain in 1979 in thirteen parts and drew more than fifteen million UK viewers. The often quoted figure of five hundred million is a cumulative global reach estimate across years of repeats and international sales, with no published methodology, and it postdates the UK run: the series did not reach American PBS until 1982.
- - Alexandra Palace, Muswell Hill. Alexandra Palace in north London carried the world's first regular high definition television service from 1936 and was still in BBC use when Attenborough joined in 1952. Output at that point was a single channel, largely live, from here and from Lime Grove.
- - Changing the Face of the BBC | Sir David Attenborough - Life on Air | BBC Studios. Attenborough on changing the face of the BBC, from Life on Air. Civilisation, The Ascent of Man, Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Old Grey Whistle Test are associated with his controllership, though The Ascent of Man transmitted in 1973, after he had left the post.
- - The south front of Alexandra Palace. The former BBC television mast rises from the eastern end. Britain's first regular colour service began on BBC Two on 1 July 1967 with Attenborough as Controller. He presided over the launch on a channel already engineered for it; he did not introduce colour television to Britain.
- - The Alexandra Palace transmission tower. The mast that carried the earliest London television transmissions. When Attenborough became Controller of BBC Two in March 1965 the technical landscape had changed completely: BBC Two was the 625 line UHF channel built to carry colour.
- - Beaver Lodge Construction Squad | Attenborough | BBC Earth. Beavers building a lodge, narrated by Attenborough. The narration rather than the presenting is the bulk of his output: 253 episodes of Wildlife on One and more than 50 Natural World films.
- - College House, Leicester, the family home. The childhood home of David and Richard Attenborough on the University of Leicester campus, where their father Frederick was Principal of University College. Richard died on 24 August 2014 and their third brother John on 9 November 2012, leaving David the only surviving brother.
- - The Attenborough Tower, University of Leicester. Named for Frederick Attenborough, the brothers' father and the college's Principal, rather than for David. Several buildings and places carrying the surname commemorate different Attenboroughs or none of them, and the Nottinghamshire nature reserve is named after its village.
- - Deforestation in Madagascar - Attenborough and The Giant Egg, Preview - BBC. Deforestation in Madagascar, from Attenborough and the Giant Egg. He returned to Madagascar decades after the 1961 Zoo Quest expedition and found the forest greatly reduced.
- - Television cake, BBC seventy-fifth anniversary. A cake shaped as a television set at the BBC's seventy fifth anniversary event at Alexandra Palace in November 2011. Anniversary programming and anniversary events are promotional in function, and the BBC is an interested party in most of the retrospective material about Attenborough.
- - David Attenborough narrates the shoe-mounting tortoise video - The Graham Norton Show - BBC. Attenborough narrates an internet video of a tortoise on The Graham Norton Show. Mock Attenborough narration of mundane subjects is a recognised comic form, performed here by him.
- - Birthplace of television plaque, Alexandra Palace. The plaque commemorating the start of regular high definition television from Alexandra Palace in 1936. Attenborough joined sixteen years after that, as a trainee producer in the Talks department, with no natural history brief and no intention of appearing on screen.
- - David Attenborough reacts to BBC's payoffs row. Attenborough responds to the BBC severance payments controversy in 2013. He is one of the few figures able to comment on BBC management from the inside, having held two of its senior posts.
- - Television Centre, panorama. The White City building shortly before the BBC vacated it. Britain's first regular colour service began on BBC Two on 1 July 1967 with Attenborough as Controller, most often reported as starting with Wimbledon coverage, though which programme was actually first is not firmly established.
- - The world's first regular television service, Wood Green. The commemorative marking at Alexandra Palace. Television when Attenborough arrived reached a small minority of households, ran one channel and treated film inserts as the exception. Everything about the scale of his later series was unimaginable from here.
- - Sir David Attenborough - Memories of the University of Leicester. Attenborough recalls the University of Leicester, where his father Frederick Attenborough was Principal. He was raised in Leicester and educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys before Clare College, Cambridge.
- - Sir David Attenborough on Cambridge's conservation hub building carrying his name. Attenborough on the Cambridge conservation building that carries his name. He read natural sciences at Clare College, Cambridge, then served in the Royal Navy from 1947 to 1949.
- - Attenborough Talks About His Famous Gorilla Encounter | Attenborough at 90 | BBC Earth. Attenborough recalls the gorilla encounter for the 90th birthday programming. The sequence was filmed on 9 January 1978 and displaced a written piece about the opposable thumb.
- - A message from Sir David Attenborough - Blue Planet II: Episode 7 - BBC. A closing message from Attenborough for the final episode of Blue Planet II. Theresa May cited the series when launching the UK 25 Year Environment Plan, though a study testing viewer behaviour found no significant change in plastic choices.
- - Sir David Attenborough on his new series, Dynasties - BBC. Attenborough introduces Dynasties in 2018. Around this series he said too many grim messages would be a turn off for viewers, the position his critics attack most directly.
- - The Queen laughs with Sir David Attenborough about a sundial. Attenborough and Queen Elizabeth II in the Buckingham Palace gardens for an ITV documentary. He is one of the few broadcasters granted this kind of access across successive reigns.
- - David Attenborough on why People Love His Documentaries | On Factual. Attenborough discusses why audiences respond to his documentaries, in a BAFTA session on factual television. He has said the narration is written to let the pictures carry the argument.
- - Seven Worlds One Planet promotional sculpture, Cardiff. A BBC promotional installation for Seven Worlds, One Planet in Cardiff in October 2019. Marketing of this scale is a measure of how far the natural history series had moved from the Talks department film insert he started with.
- - The Seven Worlds installation, Cardiff. By this point the BBC blue chip series were competing directly with Netflix and Apple, both of which had commissioned Attenborough directly. The late work is largely not BBC, which changes both the rights position and the tone.
- - Poison Dart Frogs 🐸 Life in Color with David Attenborough | Netflix After School. Poison dart frogs from Life in Colour, distributed by Netflix. His narration now reaches audiences through streaming platforms as much as through the BBC.
- - The Impact of David Attenborough and the Natural History Unit | 100 Years of the BBC. The BBC marks its centenary with a segment on Attenborough and the Natural History Unit. The Bristol unit grew from Desmond Hawkins's work in BBC West Region in the 1940s, while Attenborough was a London Talks producer, so it is not his unit.
- - Sir David Attenborough: Exclusive interview by UN Environment Programme's Director Inger Andersen. The UN Environment Programme's Inger Andersen interviews Attenborough. Institutional platforms increasingly carry him instead of, or alongside, the BBC.
- - Old-school David Attenborough | A Look Through The Archives | BBC Earth. A compilation of early Attenborough material from the BBC archives. Television when he joined in 1952 was a single channel broadcasting live from Alexandra Palace and Lime Grove, with film inserts the exception.
- - 97 years of Sir David Attenborough in 97 seconds | David Attenborough's Birthday - BBC. The BBC compresses 97 years of Attenborough into 97 seconds for his birthday. He joined the corporation in 1952 as a trainee producer in the Talks department, hired neither as a naturalist nor as a presenter.
- - David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities | BBC Select. BBC Select introduces Natural Curiosities, one of the smaller series in his catalogue. The bulk of his output is not the landmark series but 253 episodes of Wildlife on One and more than 50 Natural World narrations.
- - Sir David Attenborough presents Wild London | Trailer - BBC. A trailer for Wild London, presented by Attenborough in 2025. He continues presenting and narrating into his hundredth year, and the BBC announced during the centenary that he narrates Blue Planet III.
- - David Attenborough: How the platypus made us rethink evolution | BBC Global. Attenborough explains how the platypus changed thinking about evolution. Explaining scientific ideas on television is the through line from the Talks department in 1952 to the present.
- - David Attenborough's Genius Plan To Save BBC2 | An AMTV Documentary. An independent documentary on Attenborough's plans for BBC Two during his controllership. BBC Two carried Britain's first regular colour service from 1 July 1967 because it was the 625 line channel already built to carry colour, not because he introduced colour television.
- - Sir David Attenborough: A century of storytelling - BBC. The BBC marks a century of Attenborough's storytelling on his 100th birthday, 8 May 2026. Retrospectives from his employer are promotional in function and should be read as such.
- - Attenborough at 100: A week of celebration - BBC. The BBC trails a week of programming for Attenborough at 100. The centenary was marked by a Royal Albert Hall gala broadcast as David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth.
- - 100 years of Sir David Attenborough - BBC. The BBC marks 100 years of Attenborough on 8 May 2026. His career spans almost the whole history of British television, from a single live channel in 1952 to global streaming.
- - Happy 100th birthday Sir David Attenborough! 🌍🎉 | Newsround. Newsround marks Attenborough's 100th birthday for a children's audience. He is alive and working, and the BBC announced during the centenary that he narrates Blue Planet III.
- - Making Life on Earth: Attenborough's Greatest Adventure | Premiering 8 May on BBC Player. BBC Player trails Making Life on Earth: Attenborough's Greatest Adventure, premiering on his 100th birthday. Anniversary programming from his own broadcaster is promotional in function.
- - Making Life on Earth: Attenborough’s Greatest Adventure | Trailer. A trailer for the centenary documentary about the making of Life on Earth. The 1979 series drew more than 15 million UK viewers, the defensible audience figure for it.
- - Sir David Attenborough's 100th Birthday Special | BBC Player | Coming 8 May. BBC Player trails a 100th birthday special for 8 May 2026. The centenary was also marked by a Royal Albert Hall gala broadcast as David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth.
- - Sir David Attenborough’s Unexpected Animal Allergy | BBC Player. A light centenary item about an animal allergy. The BBC published a large volume of Attenborough material around the centenary, all of it produced by an interested party.
- - Nature’s Most Ingenious Hunters With Sir David Attenborough In 4K | BBC Earth. A BBC Earth compilation of hunting sequences narrated by Attenborough. Compilations built from the back catalogue are now a substantial part of how the BBC publishes this material.
- - Inside the wild life of broadcasting legend Sir David Attenborough | 60 Minutes Australia. An Australian profile of Attenborough as a broadcaster, published for his centenary. His overseas reach is one reason commentators doubt any single successor could replace him.
- - Extraordinary Moments Narrated By Sir David Attenborough | BBC Earth | BBC Studios. An hour of sequences narrated by Attenborough, published by BBC Studios. The narration is the product, and for decades he was heard far more often than he was seen.