Sir David Attenborough faced some health and safety issues in his latest TV venture.
Producer Alastair Fothergill has said the 96-year-old national treasure could have "died" during filming for Wild Isles, which will air its first episode on Sunday (March 12). The programme took three years to film and will mark the wildlife presenter's 69th year of being on television.
But during the broadcaster’s first foray into exploring the wildlife of the UK, he put himself in danger. The programme captured Sir Attenborough up in the middle of the night on the Welsh island of Skomer waiting for a Manx shearwater chick to take flight for the first time for a migration to South America.
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There were challenges both logistical and medical to contend with. David had to climb 68 concrete steps to get up to the top of the island from the boat jetty and also consider the risk of bird flu while getting close to the animals.
Speaking to the Radio Times, Alastair said: "The shearwaters are not great at taking off, so what the warden on the island said is, ‘If you sit David close to the burrows, they will almost certainly climb up his arm, onto his head and take off from his head'.
"We thought, ‘Wow, that could be TV gold’. That was the plan."
But that was when they found out avian flu was reported to be present on the neighbouring island of Grassholm, increasing the possibility it could be on Skomer as well. Alastair said he asked a friend for advice.
The producer said: "I have an old friend who is a government advisor on infectious diseases and I said to him, ‘What shall we do?’
"He said, ‘If David gets it he will die, but it’s actually very, very hard to get bird flu. As long as David is just by the bird, on the rock, it’ll be fine’.
"Everyone was happy, but it was a bit unnerving.”
Radio Times also reported the presenter and environmentalist had to go through training to be as fit as possible to film, and was accompanied by a doctor with a defibrillator every time he made the climb up the 68 steep concrete steps to the top of Skomer Island. Sir Attenborough was not harmed during the filming process.
Wild Isles begins on BBC One on Sunday, March 12 at 7pm
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