BBC to Mark David Attenborough's 100th Birthday with Three Special Programmes
David Attenborough will be celebrated on 8 May (ET) with a dedicated week of programming that includes three new shows, a live centenary event at the Royal Albert Hall, and a curated revisiting of his most-loved series.
David Attenborough: three new projects and behind-the-scenes revelations
The broadcaster’s centenary slate features three brand-new offerings. Making Life on Earth: Attenborough's Greatest Adventure goes behind the scenes of the landmark 1979 series Life on Earth, pairing fresh interviews with the presenter and the original production team. The programme revisits how the flagship series was made—noting that the original production travelled to 40 countries to film 600 species—and will reflect on the many challenges encountered during filming, including a coup in the Comoros, being shot at, and the famous encounter with gorillas in Rwanda.
Alongside that retrospective, a new five-episode series titled Secret Garden will see the presenter reveal the hidden worlds found in Britain’s gardens. Filmed across the UK, the run focuses on the diversity of life in ordinary back gardens while also highlighting how the public can help support struggling species.
The trio of premieres is completed by David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth, a live event staged at the Royal Albert Hall that will feature the Concert Orchestra and special guests for a centenary celebration in front of a live audience.
Centenary week programming: revisits, collections and a curated run
The week of programming around 8 May (ET) will pair those new projects with a selection of classic and recent works. Broadly framed as a celebration of an "extraordinary milestone, " the schedule includes specially chosen episodes from the presenter’s catalogue and a dedicated collection of fan favourites. The broadcaster will revisit episodes from major series and make a wider selection of 40 of his most-loved programmes available as part of the centenary curation.
Organisers have positioned the week both as a retrospective and as a call to engagement, pairing archival reflections with fresh material that connects past fieldwork to contemporary conservation themes. The Secret Garden series, in particular, underlines a practical angle—encouraging viewers to consider how actions at a local level can support biodiversity—while Making Life on Earth lays out the production challenges and global scope that defined the original series.
Industry response and the shape of the tribute
Those involved in commissioning framed the centenary week as an opportunity to honour a career that has reshaped how audiences view the natural world. One senior commissioning figure described the special week as a celebration of an extraordinary body of work that continues to inspire curiosity and care for the planet, and as a moment to offer thanks for a lifetime spent bringing nature into homes.
The combined package—three new programmes, a live orchestral event at the Royal Albert Hall, curated revisit episodes and a forty-programme collection—aims to balance reverence for landmark field series with newer, locally focused storytelling. Viewers can expect a week that looks back at formative television achievements while also presenting fresh perspectives designed to engage both long-time followers and new audiences.
