Oscar-winning actor to take on Sir David Attenborough with new BBC nature documentary in surprising career move

AN Oscar-winning actor is to follow in Sir David Attenborough’s footsteps by narrating a new BBC nature documentary.

Sir David, 98, has been synonymous with the Beeb’s natural history programmes for several decades.

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Sir David Attenborough has been long synonymous with BBC natural history shows[/caption]

AP

Tom Hanks is narrating an upcoming BBC nature documentary[/caption]

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He won Oscars for his roles in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump[/caption]

But in a surprising career move, Tom Hanks is providing the voiceover for a new ten-part nature series.

The star, 68, will narrate The Americas – a project which has been five years in the making.

Filmed over 180 expeditions, The Americas explores wildlife on the Atlantic coast.

This includes Mexico, the Amazon, the Gulf coast, the Caribbean, the West coast and Patagonia.

In addition, the Wild West, the frozen North and the Andes will also be covered.

The programme will be airing on BBC One later this year.

Toby Gorman, an executive behind the series, said: “We asked ourselves, who is the American version of David Attenborough? 

“When we embarked on this we wanted to go as big as possible and after some conversations we said internally that there was a list of one: Tom Hanks.”

The Americas is a co-production between BBC Studios and NBCUniversal.

Meanwhile, Tom isn’t the only actor following in Sir David’s footsteps.

Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville, 61, played Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham in the ITV historical drama.

Near the end of 2024, Hugh lent his voice to nature documentary The Secret Lives of Animals.

This 10-part series highlights 77 unique species in 24 countries over three years.

The programme made its global Apple TV+ debut on December 18.

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Sir David narrated seven-part series Asia in 2024[/caption]