David Attenborough turned 100 on Friday, and Britain marked the occasion with the scale it felt the milestone demanded — a sell-out celebration at London’s Royal Albert Hall, tributes from a king, a prince, and some of the world’s most recognizable names, and an announcement that the broadcaster has narrated a brand new BBC series.
The BBC event, David Attenborough’s 100 Years on Planet Earth, drew 5,000 people to the Royal Albert Hall and aired on the BBC with a slight delay. Attenborough himself was present for the evening, which opened with a standing ovation from the audience before he took his seat beside Prince William.
King Charles III led the evening’s video tributes with a short film, A Very Special Delivery, produced by BBC Studios’ natural history unit, in which the King wrote a birthday letter to Attenborough that was delivered with the help of various animals — a hedgehog among them, to considerable laughter from the crowd. Video messages from Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Judi Dench, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Olivia Colman, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and, appropriately, Paddington Bear followed.
Prince William praised Attenborough for having “transformed how we see the only home we have, Planet Earth,” saying his work had strengthened his own dedication to protecting the natural world. “You have given us belief that positive change is still possible,” the Prince of Wales said.
On stage, Monty Python’s Michael Palin reflected on his long friendship with Attenborough with characteristic wit. “David is a more intrepid traveler than myself. When I see a swamp, I walk around it,” Palin said. “David jumps in.” Bastille frontman Dan Smith, who collaborated with Hans Zimmer on the Planet Earth III soundtrack, performed the band’s hit “Pompeii” with the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Ascension Choir. Sigur Rós also performed. The evening closed with Attenborough’s voice, heard over images of the natural world, reading the lyrics to “What a Wonderful World.”
At the event’s close, host Kirsty Young announced that Attenborough had spent his birthday week recording narration for a new series. Blue Planet III, she confirmed, would launch in autumn 2026. The six-part series for BBC One, iPlayer, and BBC America will come from the BBC Studios Natural History Unit. BBC Head of Specialist Factual Commissioning Jack Bootle said Attenborough’s voice “remains synonymous with the very best of the BBC’s natural history output.”
