BBC to mark Sir David Attenborough's 100th birthday with new shows

The BBC will mark Sir David Attenborough's 100th birthday on May 8 with three new programmes and a week of special broadcasts, including a behind‑the‑scenes retrospective and a five‑part series.

The BBC is planning a week of special programming to mark Sir David Attenborough's 100th birthday on May 8. The schedule will pair three new commissions with selected episodes from his best‑known series and recent films. New commissions include a behind‑the‑scenes retrospective of the 1979 Life on Earth series, a five‑part Secret Garden series filmed across the UK, and a live event at the Royal Albert Hall. A curated collection of 40 programmes will also be made available on iPlayer. Planned broadcasts: - Three new programmes are announced: Making Life on Earth: Attenborough's Greatest Adventure; Secret Garden (five parts); and David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth, a live event from the Royal Albert Hall. - Making Life on Earth: Attenborough's Greatest Adventure revisits the original 1979 Life on Earth, includes new interviews with Sir David and original crew, and reflects on production challenges encountered during filming, including a coup in the Comoros and incidents of gunfire, and a visit to mountain gorillas in Rwanda. - Secret Garden is filmed across the UK and explores the diversity of wildlife found in domestic gardens. - The week will also feature episodes from Planet Earth II, Blue Planet II, Planet Earth III, Frozen Planet II, Seven Worlds, One Planet, and recent films such as Wild London. - A dedicated collection of 40 of Sir David's programmes will be available on iPlayer. - The announcement notes Sir David's recent projects, including Wild London and the six‑part Kingdom series, and recalls that he won a Daytime Emmy last year, becoming the oldest recipient at age 99. Summary: The BBC is staging a dedicated week beginning around May 8 to honour Sir David Attenborough's 100th birthday, combining new commissions, archive showings and an iPlayer collection. The planned retrospective and new series revisit landmark productions and recent work, and a live concert‑style event will take place at the Royal Albert Hall. Further scheduling details and exact broadcast times were not specified. Undetermined at this time.