They ruin them by not using Attenborough. LIFE with Oprah Winfrey was dreadful.

I think it was a big fuss over nothing. I read the Telegraph story and the Mail story a few weeks ago, then read the rebuttal by BBC Worldwide. It is a bit complicated because as co-producer Discovery gets to make its own editing and format decisions, but at no point was the statement that they were censoring the programme anything more than uninformed speculation.

Still, from a pragmatic standpoint this fuss has probably made more people both in the UK and in a North America aware of the programme.

It may be a big fuss over nothing. But it's also entirely predictable and inevitable that the USA should not take that final episode until (coincidentally) there's a campaign with signatures to get them to take it. The problem is not so much that there is any censorship but that the USA is perceived to need that censorship.

I still find it frankly bizarre that they have to have another narrator. But there again, there's a persistent idea in TV and film land that a program that hasn't been remade for the USA market will tank in the ratings. As long as that belief is there it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy.

Does it matter who the narrator is? Not all audiences could be bother with names and I personally think as long as the show has substance and the audience loves it is all what matters. I know my friends and workmates talk about the show and love it. Amazing!