A Love Letter to Sir David Attenborough, the hero saving Earth in Netflix’s Our Planet

In this rather fractious and divisive world that we live in, it’s rare to find a subject that we can all agree on. Politics, religion, the best type of crisps – it seems as though anything can set off a fierce argument or spark a ‘Twitter storm’ nowadays.

There is one topic, however, on which no one disagrees… Sir David Attenborough.

It’s a universally accepted truth that the 92 year-old natural historian and broadcaster is a national treasure. And rightly so.

We’d go one further than that, though. Such is the huge impact and legacy of this televisual behemoth, we’d argue that the whole world adores the man.

As Sir David Attenborough makes his Netflix debut with his new series Our Planet, we decided to pen an open love letter to him. On behalf of every man, woman, child, animal and plant on earth.

And here it is…

Dearest Sir David Attenborough,

We’ll just come right out and say it. We love you. Here are just a few of the reasons why:

You know your animals and now so do we

Sir David… You didn’t just stumble into presenting wildlife programmes, did you? You specialised in zoology while studying Natural Sciences at Cambridge University’s Clare College. You’re a man who knows his aardvarks from his elephants.

Yours hasn’t just been a fleeting fancy, either. You’ve made nature programming your life. You’ve been to every continent and come face to face with countless species’ in a bid to learn about all forms of life on this planet. We, in turn, have all benefited from your boundless quest for encyclopaedic wildlife knowledge. So, y’know… thanks.

You (practically) invented colour television – Well, sort of…

Okay, so you may not have come up with the actual technology behind colour TV, but you did spearhead its introduction into British homes as Controller of BBC Two in the late sixties, overseeing the UK’s first ever colour broadcast.

It was March the 3rd 1967 when British families first enjoyed live tennis from Wimbledon in something much jazzier than the monochromatic coverage they were used to. And it was all thanks to your pioneering efforts.

You DID invent the wildlife documentary, though

It’s true, isn’t it? What a guy.

Your CV knows no bounds

With 65 years of broadcasting experience at the very highest level behind you, David, you transcend legend status in TV circles and beyond.

Zoo Quest, Life on Earth, The Living Planet, The Trials of Life, The Private Life of Plants, Life in the Freezer, The Blue Planet, Dynasties – the list of your incredible and untouchable documentary series’ is almost endless.

If you were on LinkedIn, you could brag of ‘65 years experience in delivering high quality service to clients on a global scale’.

But you’re not on LinkedIn though, are you? We checked.

You Commissioned Monty Python’s Flying Circus

In 1969, you were the BBC Director of Programmes and made the uniquely bold and brave decision to greenlight a pitch from a surreal sketch show troupe consisting of John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman and Terry Gilliam.

Monty Python would go on to reshape how people thought about television and become a worldwide phenomenon. You’d do the same.

You own the best human voice ever heard by anyone, ever

Warm and hushed, your unmistakable and iconic whispers are as soothing as reclining in a bath of warm honey. Only significantly less annoying and sticky than that would be.

With your unique timbre, inflection and cadence, you could narrate anything. As demonstrated at various points in your career; not only with your huge back catalogue of multi award-winning nature documentaries, but when – say – Radio 1 asked you to read out the lyrics to Adele’s Hello. Or when Graham Norton had you describe a video clip of a tortoise mating with a shoe in a Croydon garden.

Your list of awards, achievements and dedications knows no bounds

Not only are you a sir, you also have the following awarded initials after your name: OM (The Order of Merit), CH (The Order of the Companions of Honour), CVO (The Royal Victorian Order), CBE (The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire), FRS (The Fellowship of the Royal Society), FLS (The Linnean Society of London), FZS (The Zoological Society of London), FSA (The Society of Antiquaries of London) and FRSGS (The Royal Scottish Geographical Society).

You have not one, not two, but 32 honorary degrees from various different British universities, with honorary doctorates from both Cambridge and Oxford. You also have too many TV awards to list, including approximately 15,000 BAFTAS.

Best of all, though? You’ve got all sorts of species of animals and flora and fauna named in your honour. Including a type of Ecuadorian flowering tree, a millimetre-long goblin spider, a type of frog native only to Peru, a Madagascan ghost shrimp, a species of long-beaked echidna and even a flightless weevil.

You make chinos look good

Few men can rock the short-sleeved powder blue shirt n’ tan chinos looks with quite the same refined nonchalance as you, Davey.

There are even fewer fellas in their nineties that could grace the cover of GQ if they wanted to.

You’re not a sell-out

We’ll never see or hear you on an advert, will we?

‘It is vital that there is a narrator figure whom people believe,’ you once said. ‘That’s why I never do commercials. If I started saying that margarine was the same as motherhood, people would think I was a liar.’

That’s integrity, right there. Just one of the many, many reasons we all love you so much.

You’ve still got game

Even at your advanced age, you’ve got a way with the ladies. It seems as if you can charm the birds out of the trees both literally and figuratively.

As seen back in 2015 when you flirted with Hollywood starlet Jessica Chastain on The Graham Norton Show with the kind of confidence and style that Warren Beatty could only dream of.

Your killer chat-up line? An explanation of the mating rituals of birds of paradise, of course.

Such is your natural way with people, this amorous exchange wasn’t even the first time you’d wooed a leading lady on that very sofa. Three years before you had Cameron Diaz eating out of your hand like she was a hungry three-toed sloth. What a smoothie you are, sir.

You’re saving the planet one series at a time

Your tireless work campaigning for the environment is even more impressive than your ability to look good in a pair of chinos.

Put simply… You complete us.

Love Always,
Earth

PS We’re all very excited to watch your new series Our Planet which is available to stream on Netflix today.

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