The best David Attenborough documentaries of all time
When it comes to nature documentaries, no one quite measures up to David Attenborough. The beloved broadcaster – who turns 100 this week – has been making thrilling and informative shows about the wonders of our planet for decades, spanning everything from the reptiles that roamed the Earth 66 million years ago to the wildlife battling for survival in sub-zero polar regions. These are his must-see shows.
Life on Earth, 1979
This landmark documentary is Attenborough’s “first step in what has become an inadvertent and profoundly influential lifelong mission to reframe how we see, hear and think about the natural world”, said Gabriel Tate in The Telegraph. In it, the broadcaster travels to 40 countries, documenting more than 500 species as he masterfully chronicles the history of life on this planet. The ambitious 13-part show’s “wow factor” comes from its balance of remarkable “breadth and intimacy”. Viewers had “never seen anything like this”. More than four decades later, Attenborough’s encounter with a group of Rwandan gorillas remains a “jaw-droppingly exciting union”.
The Private Life of Plants, 1995
Attenborough turns his attention to the fascinating world of plant life in this “vibrant” series, said Chris Harvey in The Telegraph. Anyone expecting a “coffee-table book celebrating colour, shape and pattern” will be shocked by what transpires. Yes, the timelapse visuals are “exquisite” but as “seeds explode or float gently to the ground” this breathtaking “tale of survival” is also often “riveting”.
The Blue Planet, 2001
I was “astounded” by Attenborough’s “first in-depth look at what happens beneath the rarely explored waves”, said Eleanor Parsons in New Scientist. “Extraordinary footage” reveals “alien-looking creatures in the ocean depths” and “blue whales from the air”. More than 25 years since watching, “I am still haunted” by the scenes showing a pod of orcas ruthlessly hunting a grey whale calf for hours to “eat only its lower jaw and tongue”. This doesn’t have the “glossy HD footage” of more recent shows, but it “changed the shape of nature documentaries” and sparked my “life-long interest in the oceans”.
Planet Earth I & II, 2006 and 2016
This enthralling series “showcases the untouched regions of the planet and the last true wildernesses”, said Charlotte Davis in National Geographic. Each episode “unveils a cornucopia of life”, and spans “pole to pole”, exploring habitats from remote deserts to jungles and mountains. The show returned a decade later examining how climate change is reshaping the Earth’s fragile ecosystems and looking at the lengths animals must go to “in order to survive”. Every instalment features a “Planet Earth Diaries” behind-the-scenes clip giving a “fascinating insight” into the challenges that came with “filming elusive plant and animal behaviour”.
Frozen Planet I & II, 2011 and 2022
The “extreme climates” of the North and South Poles take centre stage in “Frozen Planet”, said Davis in National Geographic. The series examines how the creatures that live here manage to survive in the “hostile and unforgiving” landscape. Attenborough brought the show back for a second season a decade later to “once again urge us to act now to protect our frozen regions”, expanding the scope to look at Greenland’s glaciers and the frozen grassy plains of the Himalayas.
Prehistoric Planet, 2022
This is “far from the first programme to try to bring long-extinct animals back to life on the small screen, but it is the best so far”, said Michael Le Page in New Scientist. The show uses cutting-edge CGI to depict the giant scaly reptiles that roamed the planet millions of years ago in “stunning detail”. Paleontologists have “praised” the show for its “accuracy and naturalism”. It returned for a third series in 2025, this time featuring animals like “sabre-toothed cats” and wooly mammoths from the Ice Age with Tom Hiddleston replacing Attenborough as the narrator. “It’s just not the same without him.”
Wild London, 2026
A fox “comes within a few inches of the greatest natural historian and broadcaster this country has ever produced” at the start of this documentary about wildlife in the capital, said Chitra Ramaswamy in The Guardian. “What an encounter!” The 99-year-old takes a look at the often unseen creatures living in his hometown in this “unexpectedly moving special”, reminding us that the “secret to a good life” is “appreciating what’s on your own doorstep”. In another “cheerful” encounter we learn how pigeons have “learned to navigate” the city using trains “hopping on and off” before the doors close. “Honestly, does British telly get any better than this?”