What it's REALLY like to work with Sir David Attenborough as star launches show ‘that's like stepping into his films'
The immersive show is even narrated by him
SHOW TIME What it's REALLY like to work with Sir David Attenborough as star launches show 'that's like stepping into his films'
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THE British legend that is Sir David Attenborough has launched a new attraction that feels like stepping straight into his documentaries.
From watching a pack of gazelles try to outpace a hungry lion to a lost baby elephant finding their way back to the pack - I fell in love with nature and conservation thanks to my first Attenborough film.
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It's the first time the Natural History Museum has shown an immersive experience like this
Credit: Jenna Stevens
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The stunning location: London's Natural History museum
Credit: Jenna Stevens
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The stunning visuals were ten times better than watching TV at home
Credit: Jenna Stevens
And when I heard he was narrating an epic new 360 experience at London's Natural History Museum, I knew I had to go.
With 24 projectors, 50 speakers and 5 screens later, Our Story with David Attenborough is now opening its doors to the public.
It's an immersive experience created by Open Planet Studios (the company that's worked with Sir David to make films like Ocean) alongside the Natural History Museum, a big team of experts, and Sir David Attenborough himself.
These powers have come together to create something that feels like stepping inside your TV screen into the world of the nature documentary.
I walked into the room and picked my seat, with enough space for about 100 people at a time.
With the show projected onto all the walls that surround you, it feels a bit like a 360-degree cinema experience.
The show begins in space. The room is dark, as projected stars rush over your body, and you zoom past the planets of our solar system.
You eventually reach earth - and what happens next is a 50-minute deep dive into the history of life on our planet.
From the first ever microscopic signs of life, to jellyfish, to the moon landing, you watch how life on earth has adapted and evolved into all sorts of wondrous forms.
Now I'm not the most scientific of people - I only knew the basics of evolutionary history from school.
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It was surreal to see Sir David speak directly to you
Credit: Jenna Stevens
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From scorching hot planets to freezing cold, you begin with a journey through the solar system
Credit: Jenna Stevens
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The first signs of life on planet earth: microbes
Credit: Jenna Stevens
But my favourite thing about the show is that it wasn't just pretty animations.
Whilst you're being wowed by the visuals, you're also learning about history and the latest science.
There's this particular scene that shows how fungi began to grow on earth.
Glowing, cartoon-like mushrooms illuminate the screens, climbing over the walls and building pathways onto the floor.
"Those mushrooms are based on time-lapse footage of real mushrooms" says Victoria Bromley, director-producer at Open Planet Studios.
"And there's a point where we asked 'Do they look too Disney? Are people even going to believe that that's real?'"
"But the original footage actually looks like that. Nature is just so unbelievable".
That's what makes this immersive experience so different to others I've been to before. It's not a flashy lights show - you're watching modern scientific discoveries come to life before your eyes.
After spanning thousands of years, the show soon reaches animal life.
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I thought the mushrooms looked like a Willy Wonka creation - but they were based on real science
Credit: Jenna Stevens
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Observing the apes made me feel like I was in the heart of the jungle
Credit: Jenna Stevens
You're met with a gorilla who feels like they are making direct eye contact with you, and a mother and baby whale dance past the screens which surround you.
Whilst the gorilla footage is taken from real shoots with Sir David, the whales were designed with whale behaviour experts, and even whale-noise specialists (yes - that's a thing).
Listening to David Attenborough excitedly describe the animals around you was way better than watching the documentaries at home.
"What's so lovely about Sir David is that he still has this childlike delight in nature" says Victoria.
"I see it in my kids, that fascination with a bug or butterfly. Fossils he adores. It's his ability to bring that enthusiasm, and share it with people".
Victoria has been able to work with Sir David on multiple projects and films, and still remembers the first time they worked together.
"To get in touch with Sir David, you had to handwrite him a letter. He didn't have email. So I wrote him this letter with all my hopes and dreams".
"He loves pangolins, so I wrote and said we're doing this documentary, would you consider doing it?
"Then I didn't hear anything, and one day someone came over and said Victoria Bromley, we've got a letter for you'."
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Sir David has hope for the future, even after all the devastation he has seen
Credit: Jenna Stevens
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The 'fixing our broken planet' section next door has useful tips on what we can do to help the environment
Credit: Jenna Stevens
Now, after years of collaborations, they have worked together once again to create this exhibit: Our Story.
As the show turns to humans, Sir David runs through the highs and lows of human life on earth - everything from cave drawings to climate change.
And in a heart-warming ending that genuinely got me choked up, Sir David shared how after a near century-long career, he is filled with hope for the future.
"Let's use our dazzling minds for good" he says. "And work with the world instead of against it". What a hero.
Walking out of the viewing room, I felt moved and inspired, but it was also a real shock to the system.
It felt like when the credits start to roll at the cinema, and you remember that you have a real life to go back to after losing yourself for an afternoon. (Can't I just stay, watch the gorillas and listen to David forever? Please?)
The exhibit is open to the public from Thursday 19th June. Tickets for adults are £20, with tickets for children aged 4-16 priced at £10.
If you're a student, you can get in for £16. If you happen to be a member of the museum, you get 50 per cent off.
There's multiple showings a day, starting every hour on the hour.
There's also an option to book in for a 'relaxed' viewing, a smaller capacity designed for neurodivergent visitors.
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The giant whale skeleton in the Natural History Museum is fittingly called 'Hope'
Credit: Jenna Stevens
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Of course I had to go visit the famous roaring T-Rex after the show
Credit: Jenna Stevens
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