Skip to main content

David Attenborough's 'Zoo Quest in Colour' Brings the 1950s Nature Documentary to Life

Komodo
Support Provided By

Watch "Zoo Quest in Colour" on Tuesday, May 23 at 9:00 p.m. on KCET. See more airdates.

BBC's "Zoo Quest" took 1950s viewers around the world, hosted by a young David Attenborough and cementing his leading role in television nature documentaries. The program ran from 1954 to 1963 in black and white, but in 2015 a BBC archivist discovered that the programs had actually been shot on color film. "Zoo Quest in Colour" features highlights from the first three episodes, remastered and shown in color for the first time. Attenborough visits the people, fauna and flora of South America, West Africa, and Komodo.

See the images below to reveal the incredibly rich color and quality added to these 1950s images.

Boat - Grayscale
Boat - Color
Chameleon - Grayscale
Chameleon - Color
Person - Grayscale
Person - Color
Larva - Grayscale
Larva - Color
People - Grayscale
People - Color
Praying Mantis - Grayscale
Praying Mantis - Color

Support Provided By
Read More
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
Two people look at something in the distance in horror.

Mystery Comedy 'Wicked Little Letters' Stars Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley: Early Screening at the PBS SoCal Cinema Series

The film screens March 19, with a pre-recorded Q&A with director Thea Sharrock shown immediately after the screening.
A person wearing glasses flips through a book at a desk.

'One Life' Portrays the Heroic Deeds of Nicholas Winton: Early Screening at the PBS SoCal Cinema Series

The film screens March 12, with an in-person Q&A with KCRW host and THR editor Kim Masters, whose mother was one of the children rescued by Nicholas Winton.