David Attenborough’s Latest Nature Doco Shows the Upside of the Pandemic

We have a lot to thank David Attenborough for. Most of us wouldn’t know about half of the weird and wonderful creatures on this planet without the help of Attenborough’s iconic narration. But there’s still more we can learn, particularly from 2020.

This year, the 94-year-old natural historian isn’t slowing down his fight for our natural world and has two new documentaries just in time for Earth Day.

The Year Earth Changed

Last year, Attenborough released A Life On Our Planet which he said was his witness statement for climate change. A year later he’s following up with The Year Earth Changed, which shows how nature thrived while humans were trapped at home by the pandemic.

The documentary is directed by Tom Beard and narrated by Attenborough. It checks in with various locations around the world over the course of 2020 to show all the ways our planet benefited without our interruption.

It puts forward a pretty compelling argument about how toxic humans are to Earth. However, The Year Earth Changed also shows us some of the ways we can peacefully coexist within the animal kingdom.

“The lockdown created a unique experiment that has thrown light on the impact we have on the natural world. The stories of how wildlife responded have shown that making even small changes to what we do can make a big difference,” Attenborough said in a statement.

The Year Earth Changed is available from April 16 on Apple TV+.

Life in Colour

Life in Colour is a new documentary series that sees Attenborough talk us through some of the many ways animals use colour.

If the trailer is anything to go by, this will be a stark reminder of the sheer beauty of our natural world. No doubt it will also be the sample footage for new TVs in the coming years.

The three-part series will be released on April 22 on Netflix, coinciding with Earth day in 2021.

Earth Day is a reminder for us all to appreciate our planet and do our part to ensure its survival. This year the theme is ‘restore our Earth’ and will involve a digital live event full of panels, discussions and special performances.

So, to celebrate Earth Day this year consider checking out the latest from David Attenborough. Alternatively, we’ve got a list of other great nature documentaries right here.