Who is your favourite narrator ???
- Thread starter anitaj94
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Lori Patton
Well-Known Member
Morgan Freeman is an excellent narrator who worked on "March of the Penguins." When I was a kid, I used to watch Lorne Greene in his "New Wilderness" television series. He was most famous for his role as the patriarch in the western series "Bonanza." Currently, I watch the "Nature" series and similar programs on PBS.
Attenborough is, of course, simply the best. He's the nature documentary narrator. Since Life on our Planet (on Netflix) I'm also quite a fan of Morgan Freeman.
But a personal favourite of mine would be Nigel Marvin, partially because you can really hear the excitement and wonder in his voice
But a personal favourite of mine would be Nigel Marvin, partially because you can really hear the excitement and wonder in his voice
anitaj94
Member
Morgan is also one of my favourite tooo
Walter Cronkite
Or, if you can obtain any of the old Survival documentaries, there’s some real gems. Peter Scott, David Niven and Rula Lenska come to mind
Or, if you can obtain any of the old Survival documentaries, there’s some real gems. Peter Scott, David Niven and Rula Lenska come to mind
Lori Patton
Well-Known Member
Walter Cronkite is a legend in American news reporting, but I didn't know he narrated any nature documentaries.
Well, loosely. He presented and narrated a four part series on dinosaurs (imaginatively titled Dinosaur!) in the early 1990s.
The director and actor John Houston had a marvelous narration voice. He narrated a National Geographic special about whooping cranes back in the 1980s.
David Attenborough is obviously the best of the narrators, but for the past few months I have been doing a personal project to watch through as many nature docs as possible to note the animal species in each of them, so have been exposed to a lot more narrators.
So, with that in mind, my other favourite narrator is the late Andrew Sachs. While he is perhaps best-known for appearing in Fawlty Towers, he was really quite prolific as a narrator of nature documentaries in the the late 80s and 90s particularly.
So, with that in mind, my other favourite narrator is the late Andrew Sachs. While he is perhaps best-known for appearing in Fawlty Towers, he was really quite prolific as a narrator of nature documentaries in the the late 80s and 90s particularly.
Osedax
Well-Known Member
What a coincidence, I've been doing exactly the same thing!
David Attenborough hands down.
He has been the face of wildlife documentaries for countless decades now, and he's is the name I and most people worldwide think of when they think of nature.
Through his work in inspiring many generations including myself to appreciate nature as a whole, and there's no doubt he'll go down as one of the greatest narrators of all time. There's not many people who's voice is as recognisable as his!
He has been the face of wildlife documentaries for countless decades now, and he's is the name I and most people worldwide think of when they think of nature.
Through his work in inspiring many generations including myself to appreciate nature as a whole, and there's no doubt he'll go down as one of the greatest narrators of all time. There's not many people who's voice is as recognisable as his!
Prochilodus246
Well-Known Member
Funnily enough, I know people who started TV Birding and were creating year and lifelists for all the bird species they have seen on television.
That is a fun coincidence. How much have you done so far? These are the programmes I've watched through thus far:
- The Wild Cattle of Cambodia (1957)
- Survival Anglia (1961-2001) - 2 out of over 900 episodes
- The World About Us - 3 episodes so far, 1 from 1970 and 2 from 1980
- The Vanishing Hedgerows (1972)
- Web of Life (1973) - 1 episode out of 7
- David Attenborough's Fabulous Animals (1975) - all 6 episodes
- Wildlife on One - 182 out of 253 episodes
- Life on Earth - all 13 episodes
- Animal Olympians (1980)
- Fragile Earth (1982) - 5 out of 6 episodes
- Natural World - 75 out of 532 episodes
- Zoo 2000 (1984) - 1 out of 8 episodes
- World Alive (1984) - 1 of an unknown number of episodes
- Durrell in Russia (1985) - 4 out of 13 episodes
- The Really Wild Show (1986-2006) - 8 out of 218 episodes
- Supersense (1988-1989) - all 6 episodes
- The Great Rift (1988) - all 3 episodes
- Wildlife Showcase (1985-1995) - 1 out of 59 episodes
- World's Most Secret Animal (1989) - all 10 episodes; I know it isn't a nature documentary, but I wanted to note everything down anyway
- Trials of Life (1990) - all 12 episodes
- Arabia - Sand, Sea and Sky (1990) - all 3 episodes
- Lifesense (1991) - all 6 episodes
- Realms of the Russian Bear (1992) - all 6 episodes
- The Velvet Claw (1992) - all 7 episodes
- The Wild West (1994) - all 3 episodes
- Nightmares of Nature (1995) - all 5 episodes
- Alien Empire (1996) - all 6 episodes
- Spirits of the Jaguar (1996) - all 4 episodes
- Incredible Journeys (1997) - 5 out of 6 episodes
- The X Creatures (1998) - all 6 episodes
- Supernatural (1999) - all 6 episodes
- The Life of Mammals (2002) - all 12 episodes
- Weird Nature (2002) - all 6 episodes
- Wild New World (2002) - all 6 episodes
- Wildlife Diary (2002) - all 26 episodes
- Life in the Undergrowth (2005) - all 5 episodes
- Europe - A Natural History (2005) - all 4 episodes
- Animal Crime Scene (2005) - all 5 episodes
- Planet Earth (2006) - all 11 episodes
- Deadly 60 (2009-2024, more to come) - all 81 episodes so far
- Africa (2013) - all 6 episodes
- Deadly Pole to Pole (2013-2014) - all 25 episodes
- The Wonder of Animals (2014) - 6 out of 12 episodes
- Thailand: Earth's Tropical Paradise (2017) - all 3 episodes
- Seven Worlds, One Planet (2019) - all 7 episodes
- Eden - Untamed Planet (2021) - all 6 episodes
- The Mating Game (2021) - all 5 episodes
- Attenborough's Life in Colour (2021) - both episodes
- Asia (2024) - all 7 episodes
Birds are probably the best animals for such a year/lifelist - so many documentaries seem to slip in lots of rather interesting birds in the background or in brief clips without making a note of what they are. I'd need to double check how many birds I've recorded so far, but it's probably in the hundreds already.
Osedax
Well-Known Member
Wow, you have a lot more than me, probably due to being in the UK where you have access to many BBC Earth docos. I currently have done:
- Survival: A Space in the Heart of Africa (1996)
- The Blue Planet (2001) - 1 out of 8 episodes
- Planet Earth (2006) - all 11 episodes
- Life (2009) - all 10 episodes
- Frozen Planet (2012) - all 7 episodes
- Planet Parrot (2012)
- Africa (2013) - 5 out of 6 episodes
- Micro Monsters (2013) - 1 out of 3 episodes
- The Hunt (2015) - all 7 episodes
- Brazil Untamed (2016) - 5 out of 10 episodes
- Planet Earth II (2016) - all 6 episodes
- Blue Planet II (2017) - all 7 episodes
- David Attenborough's Tasmania (2018)
- Seven Worlds One Planet (2019) - all 7 episodes, though not as thoroughly as I would like
- The Magical Land of Oz (2019) - all 3 episodes
- Hostile Planet (2019) - all 6 episodes
- Our Planet (2019) - all 8 episodes
- Dancing With the Birds (2019)
- A Perfect Planet (2020) - 4 out of 5 episodes
- Life in Colour (2021) - all 3 episodes
- Our Great National Parks (2022) - all 5 episodes
- Prehistoric Planet (2022) - 2 out of 5 episodes
- Frozen Planet II (2023) - all 6 episodes
- Wild Isles (2023) - 5 out of 6 episodes
- Prehistoric Planet 2 (2023) - all 5 episodes
- Our Planet II: Migration (2023) - all 4 episodes
- Planet Earth III (2023) - all 8 episodes
- Our Living World (2024) - all 4 episodes
- Secret World of Sound (2024) - all 3 episodes
Personally, Attenborough will never be beat. Watching the documentaries narrated by him, from Blue Planet and Planet Earth to Life, The Hunt, and The Life of Mammals have been foundational to me as an individual. Some of my fondest and darkest memories are in connection to watching his documentaries. He will forever have my gratitude as one of the greatest and most iconic wildlife narrators ever.
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Prochilodus246
Well-Known Member
Just watched this myself after seeing it on your list, and what a terrific watch. I cannot believe I have only just stumbled upon it. This documentary is very bittersweet as there are species that one would never see today within the agricultural landscape of Norfolk. I sent a link to this documentary to a friend who himself lives not too far from where this was filmed, and he says it's remarkable of what was still clinging in on the 70s, but now alas has gone from the landscape entirely.
MClaeys
Well-Known Member
One of my favorite narrators I’ve heard is Jeremy Irons. Once I was watching an African savnnah documentary and I heard a familiar voice. Indeed the original voice actor of The Lion King’s main villain, Scar. I checked it up, and I was right, it was Jeremy Irons. I remember the fragment with olive baboons and a leopard, the way he said ‘leopard’ was iconic.
Attenborough is also a great narrator of course. His documentaries are fantastic to see and the way he tells about it, it’s great.
Attenborough is also a great narrator of course. His documentaries are fantastic to see and the way he tells about it, it’s great.