In 1976, production began on the BBC TV series Life on Earth, fronted by David Attenborough. No one had attempted to create a natural history series on this scale before.
Travelling to 40 countries, the team working on the series filmed more than 600 species. One of the most well-known sequences, involving a baby Rwandan mountain gorilla named Pablo, was voted as one of the top television moments of all time.
Now, a new Netflix documentary features David Attenborough reflecting on his encounter – as well as exploring how Pablo’s direct descendants are doing today.
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What is A Gorilla Story about?
A Gorilla Story is a documentary which blends the remarkable story of David Attenborough’s encounter with the baby Rwandan mountain gorilla Pablo with a deep dive into the community of gorillas at the Volcanoes National Park. It combines archival footage of the gorilla group and is narrated by the naturalist, including excerpts from his 1978 journals.
“I’ve worked with David Attenborough for my whole career and obviously the most famous sequence in the whole of wildlife filmmaking is David with Pablo the gorilla in Life on Earth, his first series,” explains Alistair Fothergill, a producer on the film and executive director at Silverback Films.
“That encounter changed how the world saw gorillas.”
- It's as tall as Brad Pitt, weighs 169kg, up to 10 times stronger than a human and is the master of knuckle-walking
- Breathtaking gorilla photos reveal the strength and beauty of these enormous mammals
Who was Pablo the gorilla?
Pablo was a mountain gorilla who lived in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, in the research camp of the late Dr Dian Fossey. David Attenborough went there to film Life on Earth in January 1978, when Pablo was three years old.
While filming a piece to camera for the series, David was quickly overshadowed by his primate companions, who reclined on him and tried to take off his shoes.
Alastair Fothergill says “One of the most iconic moments in wildlife filmmaking is David Attenborough sitting with Pablo the gorilla in Life on Earth. For this film, our crew had unprecedented access to the descendants of that same group in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, spending more than 250 days with them.”
When is Gorilla Story available to watch?
A Gorilla Story is available to watch on Netflix from 17 April 2026.
Top image: David Attenborough reading through his diaries. Credit: Toby Strong / Silverback Films / Netflix
