All The New David Attenborough Shows Dropping This Spring

There are few broadcasters who have made as much of a positive impact than David Attenborough. A true British national treasure, he’s turning 100 on 8 May 2026 and the BBC is marking the occasion by giving us a bumper week of Attenborough content – including three new shows and archival material from his incredible seven-decade career. 

‘It’s impossible to overstate what Sir David Attenborough has given us,’ the BBC’s head of commissioning, specialist factual, Jack Bootle said. ‘His programmes have not only defined Science and Natural History broadcasting, but they have also changed how we see our planet and our place within it. This special week is a celebration of an extraordinary milestone, and of a body of work that continues to inspire awe, curiosity and care for the natural world.’

How Is David Attenborough’s 100th Birthday Being Marked?

New Shows

Secret Garden

What wildlife is squirreled away in your garden? There may be more hidden worlds lurking amid the plants than you thought – if David Attenborough’s latest documentary is anything to go by. Soon to launch on the BBC is Secret Garden, a five-part series which explores the surprising animals inhabiting our backyards. 

Attenborough’s previous series Wild Isles explored the nature of the British Isles, while Wild London focused on the wildlife living on the streets of our capital city. For the broadcaster’s new project, he turns his attention to British gardens. Set in five very different gardens across the country, the documentary shines a light on the lives of the often secret animals living right on our doorsteps – from dormice in South Wales to otters in Oxfordshire to blue tits in Bristol and pine martens in the Western Highlands. ‘Theirs is no cosy existence – even in these beautiful and seemingly genteel surroundings the rules of the wild still operate,’ reads the synopsis.

By speaking to the gardeners behind these wild spaces, the series also shows us how we can help save struggling species. Eighty percent of Brits have access to a garden, and how we manage them affects whole wildlife populations – so together, we can make a big impact.

5 April 2026 at 6pm, BBC One and BBC iPlayer

BBC

Making Life on Earth: Attenborough’s Greatest Adventure

Back in 1976, a production team led by Attenborough began working on Life on Earth: an ambitious project which aimed to tell the story of evolution. No-one had created a documentary of this scale before, and creating it required travelling to 40 countries, racking up over a million miles and filming over 600 species across a three-year period. It was watched by over 500 million people, cementing Attenborough’s status as one of the most influential filmmakers of the modern day. 

Now, the BBC is looking back at the milestone series with Making Life on Earth: Attenborough’s Greatest Adventure. The programme will take viewers behind the scenes of the groundbreaking documentary, featuring interviews with Attenborough and the original crew. ‘With fascinating insights, they reveal the highs and lows of filming the series during a truly exciting moment in television history, when global jet travel and colour filming were still in their infancy,’ the BBC writes. ‘Along the way, the crew encountered multiple challenges, including a coup in the Comoros, being shot at in Rwanda and threats from Saddam Hussein’s army in Iraq.’

6 May 2026 at 8pm, BBC One and BBC iPlayer

David Attenborough’s 100 Years on Planet Earth

Attenborough’s birthday is also being marked with a live event at the Royal Albert Hall, which is being broadcast for BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The evening will take viewers on a journey through a century of discovery in the natural world via the prism of Attenborough’s life, featuring wildlife stories set to live music from the BBC Concert Orchestra as well as spoken reflections from key figures.

8 May 2026 from 7.30pm, tune in on BBC One and BBC iPlayer

Archive Shows

BBC One will also be streaming episodes from some of Attenborough’s most beloved series, such as Planet Earth II, Seven Worlds and Frozen Planet II throughout the week starting 8 May 2026. Plus, a dedicated BBC iPlayer collection will show more than 40 series presented by Attenborough.