BBC, Attenborough to create Dynasty

David Attenborough will front Dynasty

BBC SHOWCASE: UK pubcaster the BBC and networks in the US and France have boarded a new series fronted by naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.

Dynasty (5×60′, working title) is a BBC Studios production for BBC1, coproduced with BBC America and French pubcaster France Télévisions. The BBC’s Natural History Unit (NHU) is making the series.

The show is being exec produced by NHU creative director Mike Gunton alongside series producer Rupert Barrington. It was ordered by Charlotte Moore, BBC director of content, and Tom McDonald, the pubcaster’s head of commissioning for natural history and specialist factual.

Dynasty follows individual animals including lions, hunting dogs, chimpanzees, tigers and emperor penguins, examining how they protect their family, territory and dynasty. Following Planet Earth II in 2016 and Blue Planet II last year, the programme is being lined up as the BBC’s landmark natural history series of 2018.

It will be shot in Ultra HD and is being launched to international TV buyers at BBC Worldwide’s Showcase this week with a special event dedicated to the series.

“Four years in the making, capturing extraordinary family dynamics and behaviour, I hope these intimate animal dramas will connect with audiences just as Blue Planet II and Planet Earth II did,” said Moore.

McDonald described the series as “a gripping portrait of our planet at a tipping point for the animals, their habitats and our world.” Dynasty will air on BBC1 later this year.