First airing in 2006, the series has gone on to become the global gold standard in natural history filmmaking, winning multiple RTS Awards for its epic and intimate exploration of nature's splendour. Having presented every episode to date, Attenborough's voice has become inextricably linked.
"Planet Earth wouldn’t be Planet Earth without David," says Executive Producer Mike Gunton, "so I’m delighted he is presenting the third series.
The five-part series will explore the perfect conditions that planet Earth provides for life to flourish.
A Perfect Planet will explore how the forces of nature, such as weather, ocean currents, solar energy and volcanoes, drive and support the diverse range of life on every corner of the Earth.
David Attenborough said: "Oceans, sunlight, weather and volcanoes - together these powerful yet fragile forces allow life to flourish in astonishing diversity. They make Earth truly unique - a perfect planet.
The documentary will be presented by Stephen Fry and is produced in partnership with Warner Bros. and The Natural History Museum.
The history of the magical creatures will be explored and the connections they have with the animals on earth today.
Viewers will be taken from the hidden corridors of the Natural History Museum to the frozen steppes of Siberia and secret caves of Madagascar.
The parallels between creatures in the real world and those from mythology and literature will be uncovered, through captivating stories and fascinating science.
The five-part series from BBC Studios Natural History Unit has been described by executive producer Mike Gunton as “Planet Earth for plants!”
The Green Planet will offer an unseen look into the inter-connected and surprising behaviour of the plant world, where unlikely heroes and emotional stories emerge.
Attenborough will discover plants that can outlive civilisations, and others that could cover the Earth in a matter of months with their ferocious breeding patterns.
As BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit turned 60 this autumn, 2017 was a particularly exciting and busy year. But I was nervous about whether Blue Planet II would equal the impact of Planet Earth II almost a year previously.
In November 2016, Planet Earth II attracted record TV audiences in the UK; the series went on to win RTS, Bafta and Emmy awards. That sequence of racer snakes hurling themselves at hatchling marine iguanas won a Bafta for TV’s most memorable moment.
The successor to the award-winning Blue Planet from BBC Studios Natural History Unit follows the huge success of last year's Planet Earth II, also presented by Attenborough.
The seven-part documentary series has been four years in the making, with a team of wildlife filmmakers exploring the hidden depths of the earth's oceans for the return of the unique visual experience.
Sir David Attenborough said he was "truly thrilled to be joining this new exploration of the underwater worlds which cover most of our planet, yet are still its least known.”
The schedule includes BBC One's Attenborough And The Giant Sea Dragon, a one-off special exploring Britain's Jurassic Coast and the recent discovery of gigantic fossils embedded in a cliff face.
Natural history icon Sir David Attenborough will use the latest scanning techniques and 3D imaging to bring back to life the ichthyosaur, and reveal more about the ocean predator's way of life.
Photography by ELLIE KYNASTON
Series producer, James Brickell, and episode producers Giles Badger and Simon Bell took us through the ‘mechanics’ of the series, which explained the mechanics of how cats leap three metres from a standing start to catch their prey, snakes fly and ‘shy and nervous' sparrow hawks fly low to the ground at incredible speeds to snatch the birds from the feeders in our gardens.
“We wanted to deconstruct the science behind the fundamentals of how animals and birds launch themselves into the air, though extraordinary physiology", explained Series producer, James Brickell.
Filmmaker Marcus Plowright meets members of the clandestine gay Asian (‘Gaysian’) community, who often struggle to publically reconcile their sexuality with their culture and religion.
