Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life

Reception

• In The Guardian, Sam Wollaston describes how Attenborough tells the story of natural selection "through the life and work of his hero, and also through his own life and work, which has always had Darwinism at its core. The two strands have been artfully twisted together, into a beautiful double helix of television that makes perfect sense. Except to the creationist loons."
• In The Times, Andrew Billen praises Attenborough's "grace and fluency," in demonstrating "that what always comes to Darwin's rescue is scientific evidence," and David Chater remarks on how, through the use of archive clips, "the viewer also sees Attenborough himself evolve from a young presenter to a latter-day sage."
• In The Independent, Tom Sutcliffe also praises the presenter: "Not everyone is up to the humility evolutionary theory demands of us, but David Attenborough is, and he made the case well."
• In Ireland, Pat Stacey of the Evening Herald describes it as "a stunning piece of television - epic television - that brilliantly pulled together with pin-sharp clarity the different strands of Darwin's awesome, irrefutable discoveries, as though Attenborough were constructing a model of the double helix. It was beautifully made and utterly thrilling."

  Associated material and DVD

• The region 2 DVD has been released by 2 Entertain on 2 March 2009 containing the full 60-minute documentary.
• The Open University has produced supporting material on its website. The Wellcome Trust made the animated "Tree of Life" from the documentary available online.

  Awards