He is far more than just a narrator. His 77-year career created and defined the wildlife/nature documentary as a genre, beginning at a time when television was so new that it really was just him and a few individuals making all the decisions. In his youth, he was given some cash and sent to travel the world in a 2-3 man team, off-grid for months, in the “Zoo Quest” series - the first time anyone had really seen animals, in the wild, on television.

Switching to a desk job, he went on to use his position in the BBC to green-light then-pioneering documentaries like “Civilisation” (and still travelled occasionally for anthropological and nature documentaries, that he also green-lit).

Then in 1979, “Life on Earth” embraced an entirely new format of nature documentary that has only seen iterative change for the almost-50-years since. The rest, as they say, is history. He’s been heavily involved in the production of so many documentaries in the decades since, only reducing his role as he got older. Even in his 90s most of the series he narrates have short on-location sequences with him.

It’s safe to say that he, perhaps more than anyone else, created the “nature documentary” - both in experimenting with the format, and in green-lighting shows - and therefore shares a huge amount of responsibility for the many positive second order effects. His voice, really, is secondary to all that.

Life on Earth was hugely ambitious in ideas too, covering the whole history of life, with evolution as an underpinning theory throughout. As a child, it had much more impact on me than anything else on TV, and I still remember a lot of scenes.

he is far more than just a narrator, often appearing in the documentaries he narrates. he has helped thousands of people to gain a greater appreciation of nature. his documentaries on insects are particular favorites of mine, such as Micro Monsters and Dragons & Damsels. no matter what kind of animal you're interested in, he has probably done a series or TV special on the subject.

Like those folk that spent months off the (then) known maps in unexplored parts of New Guinea in order to film A Blank on the Map in 1971?

Yeah, they put the hours in.

Ahem did you know David wasn't always 100 years old, and that in the past he worked on the field?

> who spent months in harsh conditions

Didn't you see him up to his groin in a giant mound comprised of batshit and cockroaches, and sounding like he was loving every minute of it? Or being cuddled by wild mountain gorillas? Or ...

He definitely goes out there to wild and often dangerous locations, though perhaps not so much at the age of 100.

You clearly no nothing about him which is ok - if you read the adventures he put himself through when he was younger and older you would understand he was not just a narrator but someone who lived the field. If you are interested read one of the books on his life.

That's an uneducated opinion rather than an unpopular opinion.

He basically invented the natural history documentary, maybe even the science documentary. Before him, there was little to no serious natural history programming, or what there was was quite "folksy". And with it, he created, sustained and increased the public interest and concern about the natural world.

I suspect many scientists can trace their early interest in science back to him. And I believe the green movement would have had a lot less impact without him.

He wasn't always a narrator.

Narrator: He wasn't always a narrator.

> I don't understand...

Why not stop there?

You've got some awareness that there's something other people know that you don't.

Better to ask a question than express an opinion based on ignorance, right?

I wouldn't get so many good responses (upvoted all).

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Cunningham%27s_Law