Netflix's reach will take vital topic to world, says creator.
The Netflix series Our Planet will be seen by a billion people and has the global reach to change the world, something the BBC cannot achieve, its maker has claimed.
Alastair Fothergill, the show's producer, believes it could spur politicians and citizens into making changes that could save the environment.
While the BBC's 2017 series Blue Planet II sparked a national conversation about plastic by illustrating its devastating effect on the oceans, Fothergill said that subject made up only a few minutes of each episode. Our Planet's message was wholly focused on the man-made threat to natural habitats. The series, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, will be available in 190 countries from Friday.
In a sign of Netflix's ambitions, its world premiere will be at the Natural History Museum before the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex. Fothergill was previously head of the BBC Natural History Unit where he made Planet Earth, Blue Planet and Frozen Planet.
Netflix approached him to create the new series, which has been four years in the making.
He said: "The most important thing that Netflix brings is that on April 5 it will be in 190 countries and it will be there for months and years.
