Life on television

I never thought of myself as much of an animal person but I’m starting to rethink this. In fact, I have been on safari three times, whale watching, diving and to see orangutans in Borneo (all of which required much saving and penny pinching to achieve). I must, on reflection, have quite an interest in our furry, feathered and gilled friends.

Lately, I asked myself – who would I choose to interview, if I had my pick? One of the people who sprung to mind was Sir David Attenborough, who is famous for his natural history programmes and work within the administration of the BBC.

His programmes, including the 'Life' series and 'Planet Earth' feature some of the most spectacular wildlife and landscape photography that I have ever seen and often, the moments that his work captures are so very beautiful as to cause pin prick tears to leap to my eyes.

But it is not just the flickering images of animals, plants, underwater creatures and birds that have me glued to the television set any time that one of Attenborough’s programmes come on. It constantly amazes me how his observations about the lives of other species are applicable to human life, whether these observations are about the role of the family, the drive to survive, or the search for food in landscapes that are altered by environmental damage.

What these series proved to me was that life exists wherever it can. In freezing climes, deep underwater and in the hottest, driest deserts, life goes on. Life finds a way, even in circumstances when the entirety of that life must be invested in staying alive.

Attenborough would surely be an interesting subject, even if we never mentioned the flora and fauna. After all, he has been involved in television for over fifty years, first having been recruited into television when he had seen just one television programme. He has been Controller of BBC Two and also, Director of Programmes across both channels, although he gave up this role to return to making programmes.

His 9-part ‘Life’ series, which began in 1979 with 'Life on Earth' and concluded in 2008 with ‘Life in Cold Blood’ succeeded in completing the mammoth task of documenting all the major terrestrial animals and plants on the planet.

His later work has taken on an overtly environmentalist stance and he is committed to promoting environmental issues.

I would like to ask Attenborough about his views on ecology and how these views changed over time. I would like to ask him where in the world he would most like to return to. What were the moments that took his breath away? How do he and other people who watch individual animals for months at a time remain emotionally detached when that animal gets injured or eaten? What have other living creatures taught him about the human race? And I would like to ask him about patience, which he must have in infinite quantities.

He has been awarded Baftas, an honourary degree from the Open University, a knighthood, the Order of Merit and he’s even had a Mezozoic reptile named after him.

The man who has documented almost the entirety of life on earth has done much with his go on the roundabout. If anyone would be in a position to discuss the meaning of life, with some authority, I suggest that it might just be this man…