David Attenborough: From rocks to rockstar - BBC releases the broadcaster’s archived docs on iPlayer

Sir David Attenborough after being appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George following an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle (Andrew Matthews/PA) (Picture: PA Wire)

Finished David Attenborough’s latest nature documentary? Feeling bereft?

Worry not: the BBC is blessing us with a host of classic Attenborough shows, so you can get your fill of that soothing voice and even more soothing shots of the great outdoors.

Dug from the depths of the BBC’s archives, some of these shows haven’t been shown on television since they were first aired in the nineties and noughties.

These include Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives (which delves into the world of fossils and palaeontology) and the 1990s series The Trials of Life, which outlines the natural history and development of animal behaviour.

Sir David Attenborough, right, spiked by a cactus while filming The Green Planet (BBC/PA) (PA Media)

If watching Attenborough interact with flora rather than fauna is more your thing, then why not take a look at The 1995’s Private Life of Plants or 2005’s Life in the Undergrowth. And of course there’s the chance to revisit the iconic clip of the nation’s grandfather being cuddled by a gorilla in 2007’s Gorillas Revisited.

And to round things off, watch fifty years of Attenborough on television in Life On Air, where you get to see Sir Michael Palin interview the naturalist.

Incredibly, this aired in 2002, meaning that Attenborough has just marked his seventieth year in the television industry.

With that in mind, it’s no surprise that he was honoured again on Wednesday, receiving his second knighthood from none other than Prince Charles for his services to British broadcasting and conservation.

He collected his first knighthood all the way back in 1985 – though this second one, which saw Attenborough take on the title of the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George, ranks higher than his previous title of Knight Bachelor.

Sir David Attenborough is made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle (Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA Wire)

The honour comes after the broadcaster appeared at the Platinum Jubilee’s Party at the Palace, during a section dedicated to the environment and conservation.

During the concert, the Duke of Cambridge praised “visionary environmentalists” like Attenborough, whose image was projected onto the walls of Buckingham Palace.

The collection dropped on BBC iPlayer on World Oceans Day, aka June 8, meaning they’re all available to watch in the BBC’s Sir David Attenborough collection.