Sir David Attenborough joins Hey Duggee to sing the praises of plants

Sir David Attenborough has lent his voice to a special episode of popular children’s show Hey Duggee to show the importance of plants in our lives.

The naturalist and broadcaster, 95, has joined with regular narrator Alexander Armstrong for the recording, in which he notes how trees and plants are “the basis of all life on Earth”.

The episode will see Duggee, the large, lovable dog who runs a club for pre-schoolers, help them work towards understanding the natural world and earn The Green Planet Badge.

“Trees and plants are the basis of all life on Earth and that includes all the plants in our gardens and all the fruit and vegetables we grow,” says Sir David in his narration.

“We depend on plants for every mouthful of food we eat and every lungful of air we breath.”

The pre-schoolers are seen enjoying the flowers in their garden and growing their own corn, broccoli and salad.

The episode will debut on Sunday on the Hey Duggee YouTube channel – the same day Sir David’s five-part natural history series The Green Planet launches on BBC One.

Sir David’s latest programme sees him travel across the globe, from the US to Costa Rica and across Europe to different terrains including deserts, water worlds, tropical forests and the frozen north.

The documentary series, which comes 26 years after The Private Life Of Plants aired on BBC One, aims to show “how science and technologies have advanced, and how our understanding of the ways in which plants behave and interact has evolved”, the BBC has said.

In November, the series had its global premiere in Glasgow in conjunction with the Cop26 summit on tackling climate change.

The episode of Hey Duggee will also air on CBeebies on Monday January 10 at 7.20am.