Yahoo News 'Irreplaceable' David Attenborough worked on new show on his 98th birthday
Asia producers who worked closely with David Attenborough speak to Yahoo about the new BBC series
David Attenborough has been called "irreplaceable" by Asia's producers, who also revealed the national treasure worked on the BBC show on his 98th birthday.
Attenborough — a national treasure with his astonishing career spanning eight decades — returned to our screens this weekend to narrate the "untold stories" of Asia, and the series' producer Matthew Wright and its exec producer Roger Webb spoke to Yahoo all about the new nature show, now available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
Webb told Yahoo: "David is irreplaceable. He's a unique human being. We've got a fantastic cast of up and coming — and some very established — presenters, but they have their own style, and they do their own thing. He's a unique character and long may we continue to work with the great man and, for as long as he wants to work, we will work with him."
David Attenborough worked on his 98th birthday
This year Attenborough was working on his 98th birthday on the new BBC show — leaving the Asia producers even more in awe of him.
Webb said: "It's just brilliant to be able to work with David. We were working with David on his 98th birthday. The respect for that man is off the scale... The fact he's still going, still setting an incredible bar for what he does and how he does it. At 98 years old, I just take my hat off to him."
He added: "David contributes so much to the final script that ends up being a narration. [It's] a two-way process where we will write a guide script, and then there's a constant dialogue backwards and forwards with David as we hone it with his input.
"So what you're getting is very much something that feels personal to David, very much his take on things. David is doing so much more than just providing his amazing voice. He's also providing his own tone, his own touch of magic and sparkle that comes through his own writing."
Asia was four years in the making, and while Attenborough didn't travel to be on location, producers said this doesn't make a difference to the show. The natural historian is understood to have stopped travelling internationally, but filmed on location across Britain and Ireland for Wild Isles last year — the first time he filmed on location since Green Planet.
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What does make a "huge difference", Wright said, is having Attenborough voice the Asia series because he is so well respected in his field. Wright said: "David's traditionally narrated most of the big landmarks we've done over the last few years, I think, as a narrator, and then appearing on screen at the start of the series. I don't think it will make any difference at all to Asia."
He added: "I worked on a series called Africa, so that's the last time we did a continent-based series like this. And that was over 10 years ago and David narrated that, too. So it's exactly the same vein, and his voice throughout obviously makes a huge difference.
"It sets the tone of the series. It sets the sort of benchmark, I think, for the series that we're aiming to be absolutely authoritative and top tier and exciting and innovative, and I think his voice kind of puts the stamp on that."
Astonishing moment that captured David Attenborough's curiosity
Even at the age of 98 and with his impressive knowledge about the natural world, Attenborough was amazed by the opening sequence in the Beneath The Waves episode where the Moorish idols huddle together as they are hunted by hundreds of grey reef sharks in Asia's oceans. And — in the words of Attenborough — only the strongest survive the hunt.
The series producer praised Attenborough's "big curiosity" as he revealed the conversation that happened behind the scenes.
Wright said: "David gets sent early copies of the the films as they progress, so he can think about how he's going to write the script. It was really encouraging and just gratifying that he commented on Moorish idols. He wanted to know more. 'This is remarkable.'
"He was totally familiar with the fish but like the rest of us he hadn't seen that behaviour before. 'How did you film it? Where did you go?' He was a filmmaker and a documentary maker and he did that for decades.
"That intrigue is very much still there. He wants to peer behind the curtain and find out more about how these things were done. So it's very gratifying for the producer of that episode, of course, to be in dialogue with David and answering those questions.
"And of course, David just has this big curiosity about the natural world that is completely unquenchable. So very encouraging I must say."
He added: "When David does single out a sequence and wants to know more about it is enthusiastic about it. We compare it some ways to Paul Hollywood giving you a handshake. It's like, 'Oh my goodness, I'm showing David Attenborough something he's not seen necessarily seen before.'
"Maybe he's heard about it, but he didn't think it'd be possible to catch it on film. And honestly, your heart is beating that much faster, your chest is puffing out because you're so proud that you've engaged potentially the greatest natural historian still alive today. And that is something incredibly special, I have to say."
Untold stories
Having even managed to surprise Attenborough himself, finding new behaviour or new animals was at the heart of what the producers set out to do with Asia.
They manage to achieve this amazing feat: for instance capturing a Gobi bear cub on camera, one of the rarest animals on earth.
Wright said: "It's really important to tackle the untold stories of Asia because that's our remit, really, in the natural history unit, we want to be bringing people new stories and that whether that's kind of a new animal or a new behaviour or a new landscape you've not set eyes on before. We know that's what the viewers love. They want to be surprised."
He added: "Asia has got this amazing geographical reach and this remarkable cast of creatures, so I think if anyone's going to have a chance of succeeding in packing a series with new things. It was us. It's been tough, but I really believe we've achieved it."
All seven episodes of Asia presented by Sir David Attenborough are available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.
