'Working with Sir David Attenborough was just magic'

Working with Sir David Attenborough is "just a magic experience", colleagues of the broadcasting icon have told BBC South.

Sir David celebrates his 100th birthday on Friday, with a special concert planned in the evening at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The veteran broadcaster has brought the natural world to the UK's living rooms for decades through series including Planet Earth, Blue Planet and Life on Earth.

Martin Williams, who directed some of Sir David's documentaries in the early 2010s, said the legendary environmentalists was "everything you expect him to be".

Williams, from Oxfordshire, worked with Sir David on the BBC's First Life in 2010, as well as on multiple Sky's 3D series - including Kingdom of Plants and Galapagos.

"They say you should never meet your heroes but with David I mean you absolutely should," he said.

"He's charming, he's interested, he wants to know all about you and he makes you feel like you're the only person in the room when he's talking to you and he just elevates any project that he touches."

"To work with him It was just a magic experience," he added.

Composer Ben Salisbury has also worked with Sir David on multiple projects - including documentaries and live concerts.

"He's very, very educated about music," Salisbury, who studied at Bournemouth University, explained.

"For example, the title music I did for Life in the Undergrowth was was something he particularly liked."

"He came up to me and said 'I'm very impressed Ben that you were inspired obviously by Schoenberg's early string quartets' and I had to say 'oh yes, David'."

"But in the back of my mind I'm thinking 'I don't think i've ever heard Schoenberg's early string quartets'."

"Getting to hang out with Sir David a bit was always a real treat," he added.

But it's not just those who have worked with Sir David who have experienced his warmth and kindness.

Jonathan Mitchley, an associate professor of botany at the University of Reading, wrote to him in 2022 asking if he would sign some books as prizes for a nation botany quiz competition.

"Two days later I was just coming into the department of biological sciences at Reading and low this was there this envelope," he explained.

"I opened it and the first thing I saw was David Attenborough's signature."

Mitchley had been invited to Sir David's home to get copies of the book Green Planet - based on his documentary - from the man himself.

"He gave us a good half hour and it was it was amazing," Mitchley said.

"I think authentic is the word I would use [to describe him], because there's never anything where you think it's forced."

As the broadcasting legend celebrates his centenary, the occasion has been marked by the BBC with a special week of programing.

Summing up Sir David's enduring appeal, Williams said: "Every single one of us has grown up watching his programmes."

"He is the person who we've all turned to for quality television and it's comforting when we hear his voice, where we just want to listen and we want to be told these stories."