Behind the scenes of a David Attenborough nature film

Sir David Attenborough celebrated his 100th birthday on 8th May 2026 to much fanfare. He is the visionary and narrator of iconic BBC nature documentaries like the Planet Earth series (the first released in 2006, the sequel released in 2016, and the most recent instalment released in 2023, see Figure 1). Sir Attenborough’s landmark docuseries Life on Earth, released in 1979, showed the public natural beauty in a way no producer had done before. However, there are dozens of people around Sir Attenborough away from the spotlight, who carry out excruciating work to make his nature documentaries so engaging. In honour of the centenarian, the BBC released an interview with Sir Attenborough and the crew behind Life on Earth. This article explains what I learned from watching that interview, and how nature documentary filming has changed over the course of Sir Attenborough’s long, illustrious career.

People behind the scenes

Various people are needed to make a successful David Attenborough nature documentary. Before filming begins, there are producers responsible for planning travel, accommodation, meetings with local wildlife experts, and other logistics. Lawyers help secure filming permissions in each country, and health & safety experts help write risk assessments. Then there is the camera crew, managed by a film director. To precisely operate the heavy cameras, the crew need physical strength, dexterity, and concentration. After the camera crew returns from filming, the producers pick the best scenes and video editors stitch them together. In addition, a live orchestra is recorded playing bespoke music scores for each documentary, the audio from which is passed on to sound mixers. Depending on what needs to be filmed and where, other specialists may also be needed. For example, a camera was attached to a professional paraglider for filming a fast-flying golden eagle in the Planet Earth II documentary. As Sir Attenborough has got older, his role has shifted from presenting and directing on-site to script-writing and narrating from home, but the dedication and expertise of his team have stayed the same.

Challenges of filming

Everyone in a nature documentary crew faces many challenges throughout the filming process, but it is all worth it when the final documentary is released. Ensuring the wildlife are not disturbed by filming is crucial, so that they behave naturally and do not attack the crew. Behind-the-scenes footage from the Planet Earth III documentary shows the camera crew staying still, keeping a respectful distance, even putting on camouflage to discreetly film wildlife. 

Another challenge is the physical toll of filming in extreme habitats. In the Life on Earth interview celebrating his 100th birthday, Sir Attenborough said he did not know he was allergic to donkey fur until he had to ride one for the docuseries, and it flared up his skin exactly when he needed to be on camera. While filming Planet Earth III, the crew in Madagascar got sick from eating local food, and a producer in the Himalayas got mountain sickness from the low oxygen conditions. These health issues are made worse by the lack of medical care in some of the remote regions being filmed in. 

The mental challenges of wildlife filming are not to be underestimated – a cinematographer on Planet Earth II describes how difficult it was to watch an animal die because trying to save its life would risk the crew’s safety. It is also challenging to be away from loved ones for weeks, especially during holidays or important family events. Cinematographers need to be incredibly patient when filming wildlife. It could take weeks for the animals to feel comfortable enough in the presence of humans to behave naturally, or for unpredictable natural phenomena to occur, or to find a rare animal in the vast empty wilderness. Despite the patience and sacrifices, it may be that the crew does not get the footage they want in the time they have. 

If the country being filmed in is politically unstable, both the video footage and the crew could be at risk. In the Life on Earth interview, one of the producers recalls Saddam Hussein’s troops seizing the crew’s hotel in Iraq. Sir Attenborough describes in the same interview how the most famous moment of the documentary, where he gets close and personal with gorillas, was almost captured by armed soldiers in Rwanda. Issues with filming permits could also threaten a shoot’s success, such as if a rebel group controlling the filming area does not acknowledge permits issued by the official government.

Since the filming equipment is expensive and possibly irreplaceable, it must be carefully protected. Extreme weather events and wildlife, even animals that are not being filmed, risk damaging the equipment.

With all these challenges, everyone involved in a wildlife documentary needs to be resilient.

How technology has evolved

Nature documentaries have changed a massive amount since Life on Earth was filmed in the mid-1970s, during the advent of colour television, whereas now we can watch wildlife in 4K ultra-high definition, showing how cameras have evolved rapidly in the last 50 years. Cameras have also gotten smaller, like drones or remote camera traps, meaning parts of nature which people cannot reach can still be filmed (Figure 2). Camera traps also help with discreet filming, as mentioned earlier, allowing us to get closer to wildlife than ever before. Assistant producers on Life on Earth explained in the Sir David Attenborough centenarian interview that they arranged logistics on physical paper since there were no e-mails, so it could take weeks to hear back from international colleagues. The producers also said the documentary was filmed when commercial aeroplanes were a new concept, so they could plan to film on opposite ends of the world faster than ever before. The COVID-19 pandemic helped the innovation of remote technology, making filming even faster than flying to the filming site. Local camera operators can now send footage to the UK for editing, or robot cameras can be controlled halfway across the world. Thus, while Life on Earth was the first documentary of its kind, new technology since its release has made nature documentaries more engaging.

Conclusion

Filming a David Attenborough nature documentary requires patience and tenacity from a wide range of skilled people, in the face of health-, safety-, and weather-related challenges. Using state-of-the-art camera equipment, the documentaries we have access to today have captured wildlife in a level of detail Sir Attenborough could not have dreamed of when he filmed Life on Earth in the 1970s. The next time you relax to the sound of Sir Attenborough’s voice, think of the years of blood, sweat, and tears it took to produce such a marvellous celebration of nature.

Written by Simran Patel