Press release

Our Story with David Attenborough opens its doors at the Natural History Museum on 19 June 2025

[17 June 2025, London UK] On Thursday 19 June, the Natural History Museum officially opens its doors to Our Story with David Attenborough, the Museum’s first-ever immersive experience.

Created by the award-winning production team at Open Planet Studios, the brand-new experience combines stunning animations and projections, real-world footage and full 360° immersion as master storyteller Sir David draws on his lifetime of exploration to tell the incredible tale of people and planet.

Sir David said: “In this new immersive experience at the Natural History Museum, we explore two stories – the 4-billion-year epic of the Earth, and our own, relatively brief chapter, the story of humankind. These two stories are not, at this moment, aligned – but they could be. My hope is that anyone visiting the Our Story experience will come to understand how important humanity is in writing the planet’s next chapter.”

The 50-minute experience documents the captivating, interwoven tale of ourselves and our planet as never before, starting from Earth’s earliest beginnings. Enthralling visuals of our natural world will bring the Museum’s Jerwood Gallery walls and floor to life, with audiences encountering the emergence of Homo sapiens; our closest relatives, the gorillas; and discovering our impact on, and subsequent efforts to protect, the great whales of the oceans.

David Attenborough not only explores the impact that we are having on our planet but also takes us to a wonderful future in which we come to work with the Earth rather than against it. The experience is accompanied by an original score by Tony Award- and Olivier Award-nominated composer, Nick Powell.

Dr Doug Gurr, Director of the Natural History Museum, said: Sir David has been a close friend to the Museum for a long time now and it is an honour to host Our Story with David Attenborough in our Jerwood Gallery. We are always looking for new ways to create advocates for the planet and Open Planet Studios have created a truly a special exploration into our relationship with our planet. I encourage all to come down and witness this wonderful experience.”

Jonnie Hughes, Co-Founder and Director of Open Planet Studios, said: “Our aim was to immerse audiences in the biggest story of all time and to help them understand the instrumental part they play in this story. The result is like nothing yet created – a captivating experience that takes audiences around the world, above the world, from the micro to the macro, back and forward in time. It involves 24 projectors, 50 speakers, and boasts the amazing cinematography, wonderful score and powerful storytelling that we always associate with Sir David’s work. I am certain visitors of all ages will come away inspired, engaged and, most importantly, hopeful about our future.”

Our Story with David Attenborough is booking until 18 January 2026. Tickets start from £20 for adults, with Museum members receive a 50% discount. The experience rounds off an impressive schedule of exhibitions at the Museum for Spring/Summer 2025, following the opening of its newest permanent gallery in nearly a decade in April and its latest headline exhibition, Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth? which opened in May. Programming in the Jerwood Gallery is supported by Jerwood Foundation.

Our Story with David Attenborough, produced in collaboration between David Attenborough and Open Planet Studios, opens at the Natural History Museum on 19 June 2025. Tickets are available until 18 January 2026. For more information, visit www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/our-story-with-david-attenborough.

A 50% discount on tickets is available to Museum members. To find out more about Museum membership, visit www.nhm.ac.uk/support-us/membership.

[ENDS]

NOTES TO EDITORS

Press contact

Natural History Museum Press Office

Tel: +44 (0)20 7942 5654 / 07799 690151

Email: press@nhm.ac.uk

Assets

Imagery, audio and B-roll are available to download HERE.

Captions and credits for assets are included in file names.

Information for listings

Name: Our Story with David Attenborough

Location: Jerwood Gallery, Natural History Museum

Date: Open from 19 June 2025

Until: Limited run. Tickets available until 18 January 2026

Price: Adult prices from £20. Members receive 50% discount

Ages: Suitable for ages 8+

Link: www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/our-story-with-david-attenborough

Spokespeople

The following spokespeople are also available for interview upon request.

Jonnie Hughes, Co-Founder and Director, Open Planet Studios: Jonnie has produced and directed science and nature films for the likes of BBC, PBS, National Geographic and Netflix. In October 2020, Jonnie co-founded Open Planet Studios, an impact producer with a mission to use the power of filmmaking to take the climate and nature story to as big an audience as possible. Most recently Open Planet Studios released the feature documentary, Ocean with David Attenborough. Our Story with David Attenborough is the studio’s first ever exhibition-style experience.

Victoria Bromley, Director/Producer, Open Planet Studios: Victoria began her career in theatre and opera before joining the BBC Natural History Unit. Since then, Victoria has produced and directed for BBC, PBS, National Geographic and Netflix. Her credits for television include Queens, Natural World, Night on Earth, Mexico: Earth’s Festival of Life, Planet Earth II, Nature’s Weirdest Events and Operation Snow Tiger.

Adam Farrar, Director of Commercial and Visitor Experience at Natural History Museum is available to talk about the development of the experience and its script; working with Open Planet Studios on this first-of-its-kind experience for the Museum, and how the experience helps the Museum’s mission of creating advocates for our planet.

Nick Powell is an award-winning theatrical composer and sound designer and has composed an original score for this brand-new experience. His recent work with Sam Mendes on the theatre shows ‘The Lehman Trilogy’, ‘The Ferryman’ and ‘The Hills Of California’ have earned him three Tony nominations, an Olivier nomination and won him a Drama Desk and an Outer Critics Circle award. He has also composed for the likes of the Guggenheim Museum and Frameless.

About Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is a world-leading scientific research centre and one of the world’s most visited museums. Our mission is to create advocates for the planet – people who act for nature.

Our 400 scientists are finding solutions to the planetary emergency - from reversing biodiversity loss to resourcing the green economy.

We are seeking an additional £150 million to transform our South Kensington building: placing our groundbreaking research at its heart, revitalising four existing galleries, opening two new magnificent galleries and delighting 1 million more visitors a year with the wonders of the natural world.

About Open Planet Studios

Open Planet Studios (formerly Studio Silverback) is one of the world’s leading producers of impact films. Founded by Colin Butfield and Jonnie Hughes, the studio specialises in groundbreaking content to drive change for our planet – from short films to strategic campaigns, immersive experiences, and global feature documentaries.

The award-winning team at Open Planet Studios have worked on landmark TV and film productions, including Ocean with David Attenborough (National Geographic and Disney+) Breaking Boundaries (Netflix), David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet (Netflix), The Earthshot Prize: Restoring Our Planet (BBC, Discovery+ and PBS), and Seat At The Table (YouTube Originals).

Open Planet Studios regularly produce content for major UN events, including David Attenborough’s rousing speech on the opening day of COP26 in Glasgow, for which it was invited to join the UN’s SDG Media Compact in 2023.

Through its award-winning, not-for-profit impact library, Open Planet, the studio is empowering storytellers globally with free, trusted, world-class content of our changing planet.

For media enquiries, please contact the Natural History Museum Press Office:

Weekdays: +44 (0)20 7942 5654
Evenings and weekends:
+44 (0)7799 690 151
Email: press@nhm.ac.uk

For non-press related ticketing enquiries, please contact +44 (0)20 7942 5000. Lines are open Monday-Sunday 9.00-17.00.