David Attenborough’s 100 Years on Planet Earth – live

It’s the Royal Albert Hall birthday party for Britain’s most beloved broadcaster. Which big names will do the speeches? What will the orchestra play? And will it all be overshadowed by the great man’s TV clips? Follow along here

I’m sure the point will be made during the course of the next couple of hours, but it’s important to remember that David Attenborough is more than just a television presenter. He is television. His first screen credit came in the mid-1950s, when the rules of the medium had yet to solidify, and is therefore responsible for a lot of the grammar the form still uses to this day.

As controller of BBC Two he was responsible for commissioning Monty Python, The Ascent of Man and The Old Grey Whistle Test. He spearheaded the introduction of colour television in the UK. He grew as television grew and, as it began to contract, he moved elsewhere; to satellite, to streaming, to cinema. As much as tonight is a celebration of a genuinely remarkable man, it should therefore also be a celebration of the medium he forged in his own image.