"Natural World" was initiated in 1983 as a wildlife-specific spin-off to "The World About Us", itself a long-running documentary strand on BBC Two. "The World About Us" was commissioned in 1967 by David Attenborough, at that time the Controller of BBC Two, to promote the new colour television service to British audiences. As the former head of the BBC's Travel and Exploration Unit in London, Attenborough realised that many of its telecine films had been shot in colour and would make ideal subjects for a documentary series, along with natural history content from the Bristol Unit and overseas broadcasters. "The World About Us" launched on 3 December 1967 to coincide with the first full evening of colour television in Britain, with Attenborough himself acting as Series Editor. The first programme was "Volcano", a film by the French vulcanologist Haroun Tazieff; the Natural History Unit's first contribution was "Forest and Firebird" featuring the brilliantly-coloured scarlet ibis. Programmes such as these were no accident: "The World About Us" was described by Barry Paine, a frequent producer and narrator during its first two decades, as "a series designed to sell colour television sets".