David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020)

Released in 2020 and timed, quite deliberately, to coincide with the run-up to the COP26 climate conference (eventually held in Glasgow in 2021), this documentary sits somewhere between a personal memoir and an environmental manifesto, with Attenborough himself serving as writer and narrator. It was produced by Silverback Films, the company co-founded by Alastair Fothergill, whose prior credits include Planet Earth and Blue Planet II, making this very much a reunion of long-standing collaborators. Rather than a conventional nature documentary, the film was conceived as a "witness statement," with Chernobyl providing an early visual motif for man-made environmental collapse. WWF-UK came on board as a co-producer, which gives the project an openly campaigning dimension that separates it from Attenborough's earlier, more observational BBC work.

David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020) is a well-intentioned, beautifully shot documentary that serves more as a summary than a revelation. For lifelong fans of Attenborough’s work (those who’ve followed his journey from Life on Earth through Planet Earth and beyond) there’s little here that feels new. The film recaps decades of ecological insight, charting the decline of biodiversity, the rise of CO₂, and humanity’s accelerating impact on the natural world. It’s all accurate, urgent, and delivered with Attenborough’s trademark gravitas, but it’s also deeply familiar. Visually, the documentary is stunning, weaving archival footage from Attenborough’s 60+ year career with sweeping modern cinematography. His personal narration adds emotional weight, framing the crisis not just as a scientist, but as a witness to planetary change. Yet that very strength becomes its limitation: if you’ve watched even a handful of his series over the years, you’ve already absorbed these lessons, in richer detail and with more wonder. The film clearly aims to reach newcomers or younger audiences who may not have followed his earlier work. For them, it could be a powerful entry point, a concise, heartfelt call to action. But for longtime viewers, it feels redundant, like a greatest hits album when you’ve already owned every record. Not bad, just unnecessary, for us, at least. Beautifully made and morally clear, but preaching to the choir. If this is your first Attenborough documentary, start here. If it’s your tenth? You’ll admire the message, but you’ve heard it before.

Rating: Not rated  | Year: 2020  | Watched: 2026-04-13

View on Letterboxd →

Related on Movies With Macca

More from Keith Scholey: Ocean with David Attenborough (2025)
More with David Attenborough: Ocean with David Attenborough (2025)
More from United Kingdom: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Shinjuku Boys (1995) · The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) · Blue (1993)
More from the 2020s: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · The Long Walk (2025) · Americana (2023)
More documentary: Letter from Siberia (1957) · Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Style Wars (1983) · Here and Elsewhere (1976)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)