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Sir David Attenborough has been wholesomely humble about his contribution to upcoming Planet Earth III – and his comment is sure to have fans up in arms.
The 97-year-old broadcaster and national treasure is back once more as the voice of the BBC’s flagship nature documentary as it begins its third series.
With the programme back on screens this Sunday, the naturalist was interviewed alongside other key members of the Bafta and Emmy Award-winning show’s creative team.
However, he suggested that the contribution of his dulcet tones to the show perhaps isn’t that ‘necessary’, and sorry Sir David, but we’ll have to disagree on that one.
In a clip of the chat aired during Tuesday’s edition of The One Show, Sir David revealed that he ‘held his breath’ over the ‘most extraordinary shot’ from this series, which involved a leopard leaping down over 50 feet in the air from a tree to grab an antelope.
The legendary TV star writes and voices the narration for Planet Earth, working from film sent to him from the production’s travels around the world.
Broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough spilled the beans on the moment in Planet Earth III that stole his breath (Picture: BBC)
He was interviewed alongside EP Mike Gunton, but was rather dismissive of his own contributions to the award-winning nature series (Picture: BBC)
‘I don’t go out there anymore, I’m sitting writing the commentary, so I see the action before I know it’s going to happen,’ he explained.
Sir David admitted that it meant the show often ‘surprised’ him as he didn’t know what was coming.
‘I sit in front of the television set with my pen, writing the words – and then suddenly you see this, and you realise you haven’t written anything because you’re just completely held.’
The wildlife expert suggested his commentary wasn’t ‘necessary’ when viewers could see what was happening on screen, such as this leopard making a 50-foot leap out of a tree (Picture: BBC)
‘And that may tell you that perhaps your words aren’t all that necessary,’ he added, in supremely self-deprecating fashion.
While of course it is the tireless time, work and dedication of the crew, videographers and experts who travel across the globe to capture the renowned programme’s stunning footage that makes it so impressive, Sir David’s own contributions certainly help keep Planet Earth popular too.
The beloved wildlife expert has been delivering programmes for over eight decades – so it’s no wonder he was picked earlier this year as the top choice to represent Earth if we ever make contact with aliens.
Sir David’s dulcet tones will back to soothe us on Sunday night, as Planet Earth returns (Picture: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
As one viewer who was watching the interview put it: ‘He’s so interesting to listen to, and very humble.’
We couldn’t agree more.
Elsewhere, Sir David shared some insight into how he scripts the episodes, explaining: ‘You mustn’t be too wordy. The one key, I think, is that a picture is more powerful than a spoken word and if you give people the two things, the thing that they remember is the picture. You can’t ignore pictures.
‘Having written a commentary the first thing to do is to carefully see what you can get rid of.’
Planet Earth III begins on Sunday, October 22 at 6:15pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
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We firmly disagree with him.