For not only did Life on Earth, his landmark 13-part 1979 natural history series, change our relationship with television, it also transformed our understanding of nature and the planet at large. Tim Scoones, who is executive producer of populist wildlife show Springwatch, is in no doubt of the legacy of Life on Earth and its countless imitators. "It has been significant in reconnecting an increasingly disconnected human population with the environment of the planet that we not only come from but also rely on," he says.
There had been other grand-scale documentary series before, such as Kenneth Clark's Civilisation and Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man, both of which Attenborough commissioned when he was the controller of BBC2 from 1965-69. But his own spectacular treatise on evolution enjoyed a different level of universal appeal.
With its extraordinary wildlife images and its compelling story of life from algae to humanity, Life on Earth spoke to all ages and cultures, gaining an estimated global audience of 500 million. The moment in which Attenborough encountered a female mountain gorilla in Rwanda remains one of the most celebrated scenes in the history of television. "There is more meaning and mutual understanding in exchanging a glance with a gorilla than with any other animal I know," he ad-libbed, and we found ourselves confronting the reality of our close ancestry, not in uplands of Rwanda, but on the sofas of our homes. Read the full report here.
Source: Andrew Anthony, The Observer, guardian.co.uk.
