The BBC has released a first-look trailer for Blue Planet III, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, who turned 100 earlier this year, and featuring an original song from composer Hans Zimmer and former Little Mix member Jade, also known as Jade Thirlwall.
To mark the occasion, images from the series took over London's Piccadilly Circus on Tuesday evening during what was billed as the show's "global premiere," held at The Venue at Piccadilly Lights. The event combined immersive visuals, special guests and music, and included a whale appearing to jump out of and splash into the sea as part of a Piccadilly Lights video takeover. Attendees walked a blue carpet rather than a red one.
Blue Planet III comprises six hour-long episodes produced by the BBC Studios Natural History Unit for BBC One, iPlayer and BBC America. The production took the Natural History Unit about four and a half years to complete.
In a specially recorded message played for premiere guests, Attenborough reflected on returning to the franchise a quarter-century after the original. "Twenty-five years ago, when I narrated the first Blue Planet [season], it didn't occur to me that I would be narrating a third [season] in my centennial year," he said. "The ocean is an endlessly fascinating place. In these new programs, we uncover a further wonderful array of underwater life, which is more surprising, more sophisticated and even more important than we ever realized. I am proud and delighted to be associated with Blue Planet III."
Zimmer, who composed the series' music, called it the most significant project of his career. "Blue Planet III is the most important work I've ever done," he said. "I've worked on a lot of films throughout my career, but nothing affects humanity, our world and our planet as much as the work being done by the Natural History Unit in Bristol. I think everybody who comes to Blue Planet comes to it with the knowledge that it is something that changes the world by making you fall in love with the world. It's not something where you're being lectured or cajoled about things but it's something that just shows you how spectacular and beautiful our world truly is and how we need to preserve it and how we need to love it and how whatever we love we need to treat with great kindness and great respect."
The evening was hosted by BBC Radio 1 host Greg James. Zai Bennett, CEO and chief creative officer of BBC Studios global content, spoke about the significance of the launch event, saying: "For a quarter of a century, our landmark Blue Planet series has helped people around the world view our oceans through fresh eyes. Blue Planet III is the next chapter in that extraordinary story. Created by the unparalleled talent of our incredible Natural History Unit and guided once again by Sir David Attenborough's astonishing storytelling, this new series reveals wonders few of us could ever imagine and deepens our understanding of the world we share. Tonight's premiere at Piccadilly Lights celebrates the power of world-class British creativity to stop people in their tracks, spark collective awe and connect audiences across generations — and across the globe."
Blue Planet III is set to premiere later this year.
Photo: Rodhullandemu, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
