A TV masterpiece.

 A TV masterpiece.

If you've been following the TV masterpiece that is Sir David Attenborough's 'A Life On Our Planet' on Netflix at the moment you'll know that you've seen one of the most masterly pieces of TV in recent times. In fact, having watched with ever-increasing fascination this sparkling TV diamond, you could hardly hold back your admiration, your amazement, that ever-present sense of awe and respect for the only man in TV broadcasting history to leave most of us lost for words. 

For as long as any of us can remember Attenborough has successfully spanned the generations with his fabulous commentaries on nature, wildlife, the animal kingdom, botany, plant and sea life. He was the man who introduced us to all the vast and varied life both on land and sea. He was the man who once mingled harmoniously with a family of gorillas in some far off jungle. It would be golden, spectacular and brilliantly insightful TV, mesmerising, groundbreaking, pioneering TV and the kind of television that invited you warmly into a world that very few of us could believe. 

Here was a man who changed all of our perspectives on the turbulent life of animals, mammals, fish, plant life, floral and fauna, mountain ranges, deserts, jungles, evolving eco-systems and the world in which humans live in, a world Attenborough is convinced we've destroyed. He made all of us sit up and take notice, guiding you with an articulate brilliance, descriptive prose that made you feel as if you were actually there and then highlighting with perfect diction and unparalleled detail the horrific damage we have now done to our planet. 

Since his very first TV excursion during the 1950s, Attenborough has trudged his way through dense forests, exotic rainforests, always inquisitive and never short of the right word or explanation. He's wandered deep into the most dangerous territory, pointing at intriguing trees carrying millions of years of history, forever searching, exploring, digging and picking up in idle curiosity the kind of insects that most of us could only have dreamt of discovering. 

His BBC productions over the years have attracted some of the most flattering and richly deserved comments and given Attenborough the kind of iconic status and legendary acclaim that will never ever fade. Throughout a remarkable career he has been viewed with the kind of affectionate recognition that most TV celebrities would have given their right arm for. And yet Attenborough would modestly downplay all of his immense achievements as the work of a man who cared passionately about the environment, wildlife, the future of all creatures on our planet and the future of the world. 

For there can be no doubt that sooner or later the endangered species of rhinos, hippos, giraffes, lions and elephants may not be the only animals to become extinct. There was a sense here that he may well have been making statements of the obvious. The truth though is that he is almost certainly right. The aforesaid animals are dying at an alarming and criminal rate. 

Towards the end of this Netflix jewel, Sir David Attenborough superbly analysed the horrific decline and seemingly unstoppable extinction of the planet. There were frightening forecasts twenty, thirty, forty and fifty years ahead about the possible death of both humanity, the threatened animals and the teeming fish whose days and weeks may be numbered. We were shown charred, burnt lands where once crops and flowers once flourished, terribly neglected hippos and elephants looking lost and forlorn, a world of ruination, destruction, heart rending devastation, an entire universe that looked as if it had been poisoned, shot and murdered and then asked itself why. 

And then there was that powerful, truly memorable piece of oratory, Attenborough speaking his mind with an almost epic lament, an emotional plea from the heart that must have felt like a knife into the heart of all those cynics and naysayers who think he is just jumping onto a populist bandwagon. The broadcasting giant proceeded to rip into all of those sceptics who just think Attenborough is a charlatan and hasn't a clue what he's talking about. 

But surely, Attenborough, claimed, we could see the incriminating evidence around us. Look at all of those huge reserves of renewable energy, the fossil fuels, the solar panel homes of the future, the untapped potential that could become a reality if we were only to open our eyes. What on earth are we doing to our glorious planet and why do we keep tampering with the world, cutting down, setting fire to, shooting and killing on an almost barbaric scale? Why the insistence on defacing and disfiguring everything in sight, both animate and inanimate. There were answers and Attenborough presented them at great length. 

And yet the murderers continue to get away with murder because this is their divine right and who are we to question why? Attenborough, for his part, made it abundantly clear that if we don't stop now then sooner or later nobody will be left to live any semblance of an existence. His is the unmistakable voice of a man relentless in his quest for sanity, a tireless campaigner for the salvation of human and animal kind and a man of all- round genius. 

Then the camera lingered for a while on the Attenborough face. The eyes were red with private tears, a man who had suddenly become inconsolable and inwardly ravaged with pain and grief. It was both revealing, shocking and very sad. Attenborough had been reduced to the rawest emotions, a man muttering a prayer perhaps for a cause that he may feel is a lost one. 

But right at the end of the programme Sir David Attenborough gave us hope because, more so than ever now, we need it quite urgently. He pointed out the cityscapes of the world, hoping that one day that the vagaries of the climate, global warming and a planet that can make the most of its renewable materials, its cleaner air at some point in the distant future and healthy energy sources. You warmed to the dulcet tones of this extraordinary man, this most trustworthy figurehead, this man of integrity and principle, a man who just wants the best for all of us. You knew and we know that there will never be a TV broadcaster of such honour and compassion. His place in history has now been ensured in perpetuity.