Natural History with Sir David Attenborough 29 March 2018, Princess Anne Theatre, BAFTA 195 Piccadilly, London Krish Majumdar: Good evening and want to be inspired, please go on the welcome to the Academy. My name’s Krish website and look at the content, and on Majumdar, I’m the chairman of BAFTA’s Saturday twenty-first of April we have a day Television Committee and I’m on the Board of panels here dedicated to the TV Craft of Trustees. Welcome to this special event nominees. Booking is now open for those with Sir David Attenborough. We’re all really, and also the Virgin Television British really excited that Sir David is coming here Academy Television Awards, the to talk tonight. He’s a multi-BAFTA-winning nominations for those are announced this programme maker, presenter, writer, and he Wednesday the fourth of April at seven thirty also received the BAFTA Fellowship, which is in the morning here, and I think it’s going to the highest award that BAFTA can give, in be streamed on social media to keep you 1980. He’s been working—he’s got an part of the conversation about that. So I illustrious career in broadcasting for over six hope you have a really great evening and decades, and on stage tonight David will I’d like to welcome to the stage Sandi discuss his love for the craft of programme Toksvig. making, his thoughts on the audience for natural history and how the genre continues [Applause] to innovate, and also the power of television to harness our sense of responsibility for the Sandi Toksvig: Thank you very much. Well environment. Thanks to the very brilliant good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I’m Sandi Toksvig for hosting the interview going to start by making a confession to tonight, and also thanks to the BAFTA staff, you: I am here for the sole purpose of Cassandra Neal, Julia Carruthers and Kam impressing my children. That’s it. I’ve been in Kandola-Flynn. Blue Planet II has just been show business, I worked out, for thirty-seven nominated for five BAFTA Television Craft years now, and I have kids, they’re grown Awards, so big clap for that. up, they’ve grown up with all manner of famous people in their lives. Not one of [Applause] them has ever caused them to so much as blink, until tonight. Normally at the dinner I’ve been involved with BAFTA for twelve table, you know, they don’t pay me much years, and it’s nights like this that make me attention, and I happened to remark I’d really proud and feel very privileged to be been asked to interview Sir David involved. BAFTA for me is about two things, Attenborough and honestly stunned silence. it’s about excellence and inspiration, and Sir Possibly even close to a frisson of respect. David Attenborough absolutely embodies those two things. Before we kick off with me [Laughter] introducing Sandi, I just wanted to say a couple of other things about BAFTA. BAFTA, And I thought this was fascinating, I said, “Is as you may know, is an Academy, we’re not it because he’s the man responsible for first just an awards giving body. We do events televising snooker?” That is what I think like this throughout the year; we do about about. I grew up in the United States and 250 events in London, Scotland, all over—all every summer we would come and stay over the world, actually. And many of them with my English grandparents in Surrey, and are filmed like tonight, and if you go onto inexplicably we would watch a game our site bafta.org and also our sister site played with coloured balls on a black and BAFTA Guru, there’s a real treasure trove of white television. amazing content like this. We’ve had different masterclasses, just recently we had [Laughter] the brilliant writer Kay Mellor, who gave a masterclass here, and a few months ago we Which on a Saturday we then had to go had the BAFTA-winning team behind the and pay for at Radio Rentals. It was an comedy People Just Do Nothing. So if you astonishing thing and I thought, ‘who is the Natural History with Sir David Attenborough genius who thought of that?’. Well it’s Is there any truth to the rumour that you tonight’s guest, and I would have thought bagged your first job in TV without having that was enough to celebrate any man, but really seen any? my children weirdly knew nothing about this whatsoever, no. They knew two things: First DA: Yes. of all it seems Sir David has made one or two quite popular natural history programmes, ST: You’re not really qualified. and also my son has been invited to a David Attenborough rave. DA: I’d seen one programme. [Laughter] ST: What was it? Isn’t that fantastic? David Attenborough DA: It was a play by Anouilh transmitted live, rave, it just sounds like one of those I’ve forgotten what it was called. I hadn’t examples of words that don’t really go got a television set, my wife-to-be, my together, like Greek economist. girlfriend’s parents had and I saw that. I applied for a job in radio and I didn’t get an [Laughter] interview, and a fortnight later someone wrote to me from the BBC and said “We’ve Don’t worry I’m not here for long. Over the got this new thing called television… course of a remarkable career spanning over six decades, David has travelled the [Laughter] globe and revolutionised how we see the natural world, and I think he has met most of “People are being quite rude about it, but the animal kingdom who sadly couldn’t be we think there could be something in it. with us this evening. I’m sure they send their Would you like to come to Alexandra best wishes. Before we welcome the man of Palace and see if you’d be interested?” the next hour, indeed the next hour and Really. forty-five minutes, let’s take a very quick look at some of his finest moments. ST: So we’re talking about 1952. [Clip plays] DA: Yes. [Applause] ST: And it was then known as the talks department. It sounds like radio with Please welcome to the stage a true pictures, really. broadcasting giant and not just from my vantage point: Sir David Attenborough. DA: Well that’s indeed so. But what other name would you give to, it was effectively [Applause] all non-fiction television and there were about a dozen, no less than that—eight— Right now, David. television producers, who did all non-fiction. This excludes sport and outside broadcasts, David Attenborough: Now but all the rest, I mean religion, politics, quizzes, cooking, knitting, all that sort of stuff. ST: Now you’re obviously a broadcasting I used to do… it was all live I should say, and legend, so I’m not going to sit here and dis I would produce maybe one or two you, but… programmes a week and that was quite intense it wasn’t always like that. But we did [Laughter] anything, and people would come in to the canteen and say “We’ve got a problem and the Radio Times is just going to press 2 Natural History with Sir David Attenborough and we’ve got absolutely nothing for next but this time he became very ill indeed just Tuesday at seven thirty. Anybody got any before the transmission, well halfway ideas?” through the expedition. And so I took over, and it was too good a racket to let it go. [Laughter] And Jack was very keen on saying, “you carry on,” which is what I did for the next ten Yeah! No really! years, really. ST: What I love—people probably don’t ST: So that first time when the cameras go realise we call it the gallery in television, but live and the red light goes on. That very first in Alexandra Palace it was literally, wasn’t it? time, do you remember that? Were you That’s where it comes from. terrified or did you take to it? DA: Yes it was at the top DA: Well I’d been doing live programmes as a director, so the atmosphere of the studio, ST: So it’s a classic showbiz story in lots of which of course as you know and many of ways, because you were the understudy you here will know, I mean it’s champagne who became the star in a sort of way. You isn’t it? I mean it’s really very, very exciting. stepped in front of the camera when the And particularly when you know It’s live. original presenter of Zoo Quest, a When you drove away from the evening gentleman called Jack Lester, was taken coming down from Alexandra Palace on unwell. the North Circular and if there was that eerie glow on the curtains you’d know there were DA: Yes. people there with a television set and they will have been watching you, they’ll have ST: And you were producing, is that right? seen your programme. And you almost wanted to stop and knock on the door and DA: Yes, it was, the London Zoo set out an say, “Did you think it was alright? I’m awfully expedition to collect animals.