TV preview: Attenborough's Passion Projects

A series of four special films showcasing past projects selected and introduced by Sir David Attenborough.
By The Newsroom
Published 5th May 2016, 09:55 BST
Updated 5th May 2016, 12:00 BST
Sir David Attenborough looks back on four of his most passionate projects, from meeting an unknown tribe to paying tribute to Darwin.Sir David Attenborough looks back on four of his most passionate projects, from meeting an unknown tribe to paying tribute to Darwin.
Sir David Attenborough looks back on four of his most passionate projects, from meeting an unknown tribe to paying tribute to Darwin.

The first is the 1971 documentary A Blank on the Map, a unique record of a remarkable overland expedition into the heart of unknown territory in New Guinea to make contact with a previously unknown tribe, the Biami.

In a specially shot introduction, Sir David recalls key moments from the journey and the encounter with the group of tribal people that eventually takes place, and gives a unique insight into what was to be one of his most adventurous trips.

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The second programme will see him embark on a personal quest to uncover the history of a strange wooden figurine carving originating from Easter Island that turned up in an auction room in New York during the 1980s.

In the penultimate episode he will introduce extracts from Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives, first shown in 1989 and showcasing the world’s major fossil sites. The series will draw to a close with Darwin’s Tree of Life, which he made in 2009 – the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth – about the life work and thesis of one of the greatest heroes of science and natural history.

* Attenborough’s Passion Projects, Saturday, BBC2, 6.30pm

Related topics:David AttenboroughNew York