Sir David Attenborough: 'The world would be worse off without our stories'

Seventy years after he first fronted a wildlife programme, Sir David Attenborough is keenly aware of the impact they can have. "The world would be in a far, far worse situation now had there been no broadcasting of natural history," he said. "People have found it a source of fascination and beauty and interest, and this has become key to looking after the world.

" In September 2024, the BBC is marking . We spoke exclusively to Sir David, who has presented many of the programmes made at BBC Bristol's When Sir David's broadcasting career began in 1954, in the UK. The goal of programmes like was to capture wild animals for zoo collections, the accepted practice at the time.

Now, Sir David's programmes all carry a strong message - that the natural world is at risk more than ever before. "People are aware of the problems of conservation in a way which could not exist without broadcasting," he said. "The perilous state that the natural world is in at the moment, these things are apparent to people all around the world.

"You don't watch a natural history programme, I hope, because you think it's going to be good for the natural world; you do so because it is rivetingly interesting, and complicated, and beautiful. "The awareness of people around the world about ecological damage, that is due to natural history," he added. Bristol's association with wildlife programming goes back to the mid 1940s, when The Naturalist was produced on the Home Service by Desmond Hawkins from the city.

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