Green Planet: Cambridge University Botanic Garden to feature on TV show

Sir David Attenborough's 'The Green Planet' series is advertised as a dive into a world where a single life can last a thousand years

The curator of a botanical garden has revealed the moment of "absolute joy" when Sir David Attenborough visited as part of his new BBC One series.

Episode three of Sir David's The Green Planet, entitled Seasonal World, features plants from Cambridge University Botanic Garden.

Dr Sam Brockington said it was "very exciting to have some of our collection featured in this landmark series".

The episode is set to air on BBC One at 19:00 GMT on Sunday.

The programme will show how plants contend with the top-to-bottom seasonal changes from "a frozen hell to a green heaven" in just a few weeks.

Sir David filmed at Cambridge University Botanic Garden in August 2020

It was filmed in August 2020 but preparation work started much earlier.

Staff worked alongside The Green Planet's production team to find plants which "did cool things," a spokesperson for the botanic garden said.

They added that despite high temperatures and heavy rain that August, the plants were kept "in tip top condition, ready for their screen debut".

The botanic garden features 8,000 species from around the world and has carried out renowned plant science research.

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Dr Brockington said: "Watching Sir David wander through our Systematic Beds explaining some of the processes and mechanisms plants use to disperse their seeds was an absolute joy for us but something we have had to keep a secret until now."

He said many of the answers "to today's world challenges lie within the plant kingdom".

"I can't wait to see how the series will take us on a magical journey into the world of plants and reveal their reality to us - the way they behave and the challenges they face," he added.