David Attenborough

The 100 year old scooped the TV presenter prize, having been nominated alongside Alison Hammond, Ant and Dec, Claudia Winkleman and Stacey Solomon

Sir David Attenborough used his National Television Awards acceptance speech to highlight the “terrible plight of our wonderful planet”.

The 100 year old scooped the TV presenter prize, having been nominated alongside Alison Hammond, Ant and Dec, Claudia Winkleman and Stacey Solomon.

Although Sir David was absent from the ceremony, a speech was delivered on his behalf.

He said: “I hope this award is a response to the part television has played in growing recognition, not only for the terrible plight our wonderful planet is in as a result of human activity but also of the fact we now have a pressing responsibility to do what we can to protect and conserve it.

“I am honoured indeed. We are increasingly aware that if we are to repair the planet we need major national and international initiatives which certainly require our support, but it is also possible to make small differences in our own spaces and neighbourhoods.

“If enough small differences are made they do add up to doing something significant, while also providing spaces that we do enjoy being in and nurturing.”

Attenborough added: “Humanity has always needed the natural world for all the practicalities of life and for our mental wellbeing. Now the natural world needs us too. Surely we must not ignore that simple fact.”

The internationally adored naturalist received two NTA nominations this year, with his nature documentary Secret Garden also recognised in the factual entertainment category.

However, it was Gogglebox that walked away with that particular accolade. Sir David launched his presenting journey fronting Zoo Quest in 1954, subsequently helming documentary programmes The Life Collection, Natural World, Wildlife on One, the Planet Earth franchise, The Blue Planet and Frozen Planet.

Ant and Dec have lost out on the NTA for TV Presenter yet again after previously breaking their 23-year streak last year when Gary Lineker scooped the award

Ant and Dec have lost out on their once-annual National Television Award yet again. The Geordie duo had an unbeaten streak of 23 consecutive wins of the Best Presenter gong, which was broken last year when Gary Lineker took the award.

This time around, all eyes were back on the I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! stars to see if they could reclaim their victory, but it wasn’t to be as Sir David Attenborough was chosen by the public.

The centenarian, who has most recently fronted Secret Garden for the BBC, could not be there in person but executive producer Mark Brownlow collected it in his honour.

Reading David’s words, he said: “I’m sorry that I cannot be here to accept it. If this award is a response to the part television has played in the growing recognition of the terrible plight our planet is in, and also of the fact we now have a pressing responsibility to do what we can to protect and preserve it, I am honoured.

“If we are to repair the planet, we need a major national and international initiative, which will certainly require our support. But it’s also possible to make small differences in our own spaces and neighbourhoods.

“If enough small differences are made, they do add up to something significant, while also providing spacers we can enjoy being in. Humanity has always needed the natural world for all the practicalities of life and for our mental wellbeing.

“Now, the natural word needs us too. Surely, we must not ignore that simple fact. Thank you very much.”

Ant and Dec are yet to speak out on the loss, but last year, they took the defeat graciously. “Hello from sunny South Africa, it’s us,” Dec said in a video. “We just want to jump on here and say a huge thank you to everyone who voted for I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! at the NTAs last night.”

“Yes, thank you very much,” Ant added as the pair whooped. “Everyone here is very happy and thank you to everyone that voted for us for the Best Presenter category, even though we couldn’t get it across the line this year. We were beaten by an up and coming new guy, 64-year-old whippersnapper Gary Lineker.”

Dec went on to praise Gary’s emotional speech as he added: “Congratulations to Gary – great speech too.” Ant seconded his pal’s words, saying: “Great speech, thoroughly deserved.”

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