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Sir David Attenborough is launching what he says is one of the most important films of his career as he enters his hundredth year.
He believes his new, cinema-length film Ocean could play a decisive role in saving biodiversity and protecting the planet from climate change.
Sir David, who will be 99 on Thursday, says: “After almost 100 years on the planet, I now understand the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea.”
The ocean is the planet’s support system and humanity’s greatest ally against climate catastrophe, the film argues. It shows how the world’s oceans are at a crossroads.
A blue carpet will be rolled out at the film’s premiere tonight at the Royal Festival Hall.
A host of celebrities are expected to attend including Chris Martin and Coldplay, Benedict Cumberbatch, astronaut Tim Peake, Geri Halliwell-Horner and Simon LeBon.
Toby Nowlan, who produced Ocean, says this new production is not a typical Attenborough film. “This is not about seeing brand new natural history behaviours. It is the greatest message he’s ever told,” he says.
The film documents how the state of the world’s oceans and our understanding of how they function have changed in the course of Sir David’s lifetime.
Sir David remembers his first scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef way back in 1957: “I was so taken aback by the spectacle before me I forgot – momentarily – to breathe.”
Since then, there has been a catastrophic decline in life in the world’s oceans. “We are almost