Life on Earth
Sue MacGregor reunites Sir David Attenborough with the team who made the 91热爆's first natural history blockbuster, Life on Earth.
Life on Earth was the first natural history blockbuster on television. Written and narrated by David Attenborough, it told the story of evolution in thirteen weekly instalments, stunning viewers with incredible underwater photography, and astonishing close-ups of creatures never before seen on British screens.
Broadcast in 1979, it took three years to make and involved a staggering one and a half million miles of travel. Viewers were exposed to more than 650 different species of animal, in a survey of life from bacteria to man and all in between.
In The Reunion, Sir David Attenborough is reunited with some of the team he worked with on the series. Richard Brock produced the popular episode on amphibians featuring extraordinary varieties of frog: one whose young emerge from under the skin on its back and another whose male incubates the eggs in his vocal sac, ultimately giving birth through his mouth. Assistant producer Mike Salisbury recalls the difficulties filming lions in Tanzania that eventually resulted in a groundbreaking depiction of a lion-hunt.
The most enduring sequence in the series was David Attenborough's astonishing encounter with gorillas in the mountains of Rwanda, frequently voted one of the top TV moments of all time. He and cameraman Martin Saunders reminisce about the extraordinary experience they had.
Pam Jackson and Jane Wales, the producer's assistants who planned the incredibly complex filming schedules describe what was happening behind the scenes, and their attempts to keep their presenter looking presentable even while scrambling through wild jungle.
Producer: Deborah Dudgeon
Series Producer: David Prest
THE REUNION is a Whistledown Production for 91热爆 Radio 4.
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David Attenborough: My Life in Sound
An exclusive Radio 4 interview with David Attenborough about his life in wildlife sound.
A selection of programmes from the Radio 4 archive
Broadcasts
- Sun 20 Apr 2014 11:1591热爆 Radio 4
- Fri 25 Apr 2014 09:0091热爆 Radio 4