1984: Making The Living Planet | Making of Documentary | BBC Archive

Miles Kingston observes the sometimes strange behavior of the species, David Attenborough. David Attenborough's natural habitat is extremely varied, spanning much of the known world. A social species, David Attenborough can be observed travelling in a pack with the intrepid production team at the BBC Natural History Unit.

This lighthearted making of documentary follows the production team behind The Living Planet - the most ambitious and wide-ranging nature documentary series to date - as they travel to far flung corners of the globe to capture hitherto unfilmed animal behaviour. Join camera operators like Hugh Maynard, Martin Saunders, Neil Rettig and Hugh Miles as they navigate deserts, arctic tundra, jungles, mountains and seas, watch topless boom operator Lyndon "Dickie" Bird attempting to interview an anteater, and Rose Eastman hand-rearing a flock red-breasted geese to adulthood for the sake of a single flying sequence. Find out how studio trickery enabled the series to depict the inside of an anthill, the bottom of the ocean and the whole Earth spinning in space. Enjoy outtakes featuring some of the animals that didn't quite make the cut, and gaffes involving some that did.

Featuring interviews with presenter David Attenborough, camera operator Martin Saunders, soundtrack composer Elisabeth Parker and film editor Andrew Naylor.

Clip taken from The Living Planet: Making of The Living Planet, originally broadcast on BBC One, 19 April, 1984.

You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.

Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive

You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website