Wild Isles producer has insisted Sir David Attenborough, 96, is nowhere close to retiring
Sir David Attenborough has been delivering documentaries for more than eight decades and producer Chris Howard has insisted the 96-year-old is nowhere close to retiring. Sir David’s latest series, Wild Isles, follows the national treasure and his crew around the UK, getting up close to its wildlife in beautiful environments.
Sir David was able to go on location while filming Wild Isles for the BBC despite concerns about his well-being due to the spread of avian flu.
The series worked out in the end and the final instalment of the show is airing on Easter Sunday.
Appearing on Lorraine to speak to host Ranvir Singh ahead of the final episode airing, producer Chris insisted the show won’t be Sir David’s last.
Ranvir said: “This is a very special moment because we think this is the last time he is going to do an in-person camera documentary?”
Chris replied: “Well I don’t know! David will keep going as long as he can.”
“He’s not retiring, that’s for sure,” he insisted to ITV viewers.
Chris then discussed a touching moment where Sir David came close to small seabirds in the “dead of night”.
“It’s a very, very special place and we wanted something for David to finish the show with,” he said.
The veteran broadcaster had to hike up 87 steps to watch the birds take flight in the middle of the night.
He had to lie down on “cold, wet mud” between 10.30pm and 2.30am, but he didn’t have any qualms about it.
Chris exclaimed: “He loved it, he absolutely loved it. To be there with the animals and watch them, that’s classic David Attenborough isn’t it?”
Sir David recently warned human beings have a “few short years” left to choose how to recover the natural world.
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He told BBC viewers: “In this film, we’ll meet inspiring people, young and old, who are working to restore the natural world and we will discover that we all need to urgently repair our relationship with the natural world.
“We now have a few short years during which we can still make a choice, where just enough remains of the natural world for it to recover. This starts and ends with us.”
The documentary maker said with a heavy heart the UK is “one of the most nature-depleted countries” in the world.
This is because a quarter of mammals and a third of birds are at risk of extinction.
In Sunday’s instalment of Wild Isles, the team visits the most northerly point of the British Isles – the Shetland Islands.
A synopsis for the episode reads: “The undisturbed coastline here is a stronghold for more than a thousand otters.
“We follow a fearless young otter as it dives to the sea floor, turning up rocks in search of fish and crabs.
“They need to catch enough prey to keep warm in the frigid northern water. Thankfully, the pickings here are rich.”
Wild Isles airs on Sunday at 7pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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