--- title: "At Piccadilly Circus, the Sea Comes Up for Attenborough’s Hundredth Year" description: "BBC Studios premiered Blue Planet III’s trailer on London’s biggest screens, 25 years after the first series and months before the show airs" author: "Jan Sokol" published: 2026-10-07T08:19:55.560Z modified: 2026-10-07T08:35:30Z url: https://rews.cc/a/at-piccadilly-circus-the-sea-comes-up-for-attenborough-s-hun-db937e language: en tags: ["tv", "ocean", "nature", "climate", "culture"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # At Piccadilly Circus, the Sea Comes Up for Attenborough’s Hundredth Year *BBC Studios premiered Blue Planet III’s trailer on London’s biggest screens, 25 years after the first series and months before the show airs* By Jan Sokol · October 7, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/at-piccadilly-circus-the-sea-comes-up-for-attenborough-s-hun-db937e ## In brief - BBC Studios took over London’s Piccadilly Lights from 6:25pm to 11pm on 6 October for a Blue Planet III ‘global premiere’ - David Attenborough, who turned 100 this year, narrates the six-part series and sent a recorded message to guests - Hans Zimmer and Bleeding Fingers scored it; trailer song Into The Deep (Seas Cry) was co-written by JADE - Series airs on BBC One this autumn and on BBC America and AMC+ in 2027; a live concert tour follows in 2027 - The Natural History Unit spent about four and a half years making the series At twenty-five past six on the evening of Tuesday 6 October, the screens above Piccadilly Circus, the Piccadilly Lights, were handed over to the ocean. For once they sold the sea. Until eleven o’clock, by BBC Studios’ account, one of the busiest public spaces on earth showed creatures from the deep, and, as \[Georg Szalai reported for *The Hollywood Reporter*\](\), a whale that rose out of the water and crashed back into it. The corporation’s own \[press release\](\) describes the imagery as including a giant whale breaching above the New York skyline. Below the screens, at The Venue at Piccadilly Lights, the guests walked a blue carpet rather than a red one. The occasion was billed as the “global premiere” of Blue Planet III. A premiere of a series that nobody has yet been shown. The six hour-long episodes, made for BBC One, iPlayer and BBC America, are due on British screens only “this autumn”. No date has been given. What London saw on Tuesday was a trailer, a song and a recorded voice. Even the spectacle had its rehearsal: a note to editors at the bottom of the release says the video in the press materials was filmed the night before. ## A voice in its hundredth year The voice belonged to Sir David Attenborough, who turned 100 earlier this year and narrates once again. He was heard through a message recorded specially for the guests: > “Twenty-five years ago, when I narrated the first Blue Planet series it didn’t occur to me that I would be narrating a third series in my centennial year. The ocean is an endlessly fascinating place. In these new programmes we uncover a further wonderful array of under-water life, which is more surprising, more sophisticated and even more important than we ever realised. I am proud and delighted to be associated with Blue Planet III.” The arithmetic is plain. \[The Blue Planet\](\) ran on BBC One from September to October 2001. \[Blue Planet II\](\) followed in October 2017, and \[Variety reported\](\) that its opening made it Britain’s most-watched natural history programme in 15 years. Now a third. Governments, channels and whole ways of watching television have come and gone in that quarter-century, and the same narrator is still there. One might reflect that institutions tend to outlive the people who serve them. Here the order seems to have been reversed. ## The composer and the singer The music is grander than anything an aquarium would play. Hans Zimmer, a double Oscar winner, wrote the original score with Bleeding Fingers Music. The trailer carries a new song, *Into The Deep (Seas Cry)*, written for the series by JADE (Jade Thirlwall, formerly of Little Mix, a BRIT Award winner and Mercury Prize nominee) together with Zimmer and Thom Lukas of the Bleeding Fingers team. Zimmer did not hold back. “Blue Planet III is the most important work I’ve ever done,” he said. He has worked on many films, he went on, “but nothing affects humanity, our world and our planet as much as the work being done by the Natural History Unit in Bristol.” The series, in his telling, makes its case through beauty rather than sermon: “It’s not something where you’re being lectured or cajoled about things.” JADE talked about the collaboration with BBC Radio 1’s Greg James, who hosted the evening. She called Attenborough “a true hero of mine” and said she had memories of watching the programme “throughout both childhood and adulthood.” ## The firm behind the sea Behind the wonder stands a business. BBC Studios is the main commercial arm of BBC Commercial Ltd. By its own figures it took £2.1 billion in revenue last year and made more than £200 million in profit for the fifth year running, producing almost 3,500 hours of programmes. In its catalogue the Planet series sits next to Strictly Come Dancing, Bluey and Doctor Who. The ocean has become a brand, and the brand has investors to answer to. Zai Bennett, chief executive and chief creative officer of BBC Studios Global Content, described the evening in the language of national export: “Tonight’s premiere at Piccadilly Lights celebrates the power of world-class British creativity to stop people in their tracks, spark collective awe, and connect audiences across generations - and across the globe.” The money behind the series comes from several places. The production was made in partnership with The Open University and co-produced with ZDF and France Télévisions, in association with Skai Greece. American viewers will wait longer than the British. According to \[AMC’s announcement\](\), the series is set to premiere on BBC America and AMC+ in 2027. The same year an orchestra will start touring the UK and Europe, playing the score live to footage in Blue Planet III Live in Concert. A documentary about the sea is now also a stage show. The credits list how the institution is arranged. Jack Bootle, Head of Commissioning for Specialist Factual, commissioned the series. Tom Watt-Smith, BBC Head of Natural History, is commissioning editor and Elizabeth White is executive producer. The series producers are Lara Bickerton and James Brickell, with Matt Cotton as line producer and Dulcie Arnold as production executive. ## Four and a half years under water None of these titles touched a fin. The real labour belongs to the crews of the Natural History Unit, which spent about four and a half years making the series, according to *The Hollywood Reporter*. Nothing they found has been shown in full yet. What has been released is Attenborough’s word for it: more surprising, more sophisticated, more important than anyone realised. For one evening, a crossroads built for traffic and advertising showed passers-by the creatures of the deep. At eleven o’clock the takeover ended. The six hours themselves are still to come. ## Sources - [Blue Planet III stuns Londoners with giant ocean spectacle for its global premiere](https://bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/bbcstudios/2026/blue-planet-iii-stuns-londoners-with-giant-ocean-spectacle-for-global-premiere) — bbc.co.uk - [BBC Releases ‘Blue Planet III’ Trailer at London Premiere With Blue Carpet, Splashy Piccadilly Lights Takeover](https://hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/bbc-blue-planet-iii-trailer-released-piccadilly-lights-event-1236722312/) — hollywoodreporter.com