David Attenborough's days making BBC documentaries may be over

Reports indicate fears that Attenborough, alongside much of the BBC's Natural History Unit, is being tempted away by the bigger budgets of streaming services like Netflix

Speculation has been sparked that Sir David Attenborough will be parting ways with the BBC, after both Planet Earth III and Frozen Planet II were announced without his involvement.

Meanwhile, Attenborough has been announced as the new narrator of Netflix’s own nature documentary series, Our Planet, which will premiere 5 April. It is also produced by Alistair Fothergill, who produced the first installments of both Planet Earth and Frozen Planet.

A BBC spokesperson said it was too early to sign up a presenter for the shows, but that, if the Attenborough wanted to take part, then they would “love to have him”.

Attenborough has been confirmed to narrate the BBC’s already announced One Planet, Seven Worlds, which will air later this year, but The Guardian reports that senior staff from the BBC’s Natural History Unit have been lured over to the commercial sector due to the bigger budgets that streaming services can offer.

This included Blue Planet II‘s creator, James Honeyborne, who left the Natural History Unit last month after almost 30 years to found an independent production company, which has already signed a deal with Netflix to produce nature and science series.

“It’s over 200 million people, it’s urgent, it’s instantaneous. And it stays there for months, so it can get an even bigger audience through word of mouth,” Attenborough said of Netflix in an interview the Financial Times.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, BBC America has announced it is extending its relationship with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit for five years. Frozen Planet II, a follow-up to the 2011-12 series, will premiere in 2021; Planet Earth III will premiere in 2022.