BRADFORD-BORN TV presenter Anita Rani will narrate a concert version of Blue Planet, featuring thrilling underwater footage accompanied by an 80-piece orchestra.

In Blue Planet II - Live in Concert the original television music score, by Bleeding Fingers Music, will be performed on stage by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Using visuals from the BAFTA-winning BBC series, projecting the wonders of the oceans on a giant 4K Ultra HD LED screen, the concert will feature highlights such as the Crab and Eel rock pool chase and the sea lion tuna hunt. The Blue Planet II was the most watched TV programme of 2017 in the UK, with 37.6 million viewers.

Anita Rani, a presenter of BBC1’s Countryfile and a regular on the One Show, will present the audio-visual concert on a 2019 UK tour. She said: “Blue Planet II was more than a TV show, it was a moment in television history. Growing up, David Attenborough was a huge part of my life. Blue Planet II just stayed with me.

“It shows the power of television, it really did change the attitude of the nation towards single-use plastic and made us aware about the damage we’re doing to our beautiful planet and oceans.”

She added: “I think it’s very easy to live in our little concrete bubbles. Programmes like Blue Planet open our eyes to the world - that’s television at it’s best. I love working in television because it’s a medium that can really impact people. Two thirds of our planet’s surface is ocean and we know so little about it. This programme has taken us deeper than we’ve ever been and shown us bizarre creatures that have been there for way longer than we have; the one that sticks in my mind is the Bobbit Worm, the weird alien creature that’s about a metre long, I think the fact was, which really stuck with me, it’s been on Earth for 400 million years!”

Anita has presented a variety of TV programmes including Bollywood: The World’s Biggest Film Industry and Watchdog. In 2015 she competed on Strictly Come Dancing, presented the live tour in 2016 and took part in this year’s Christmas special. “I’m very lucky that I get to do programmes that cross all sorts of different topics - from the Partition of India to big history programmes to Countryfile,” she said. “The important role that Countryfile plays is connecting rural Britain to urban Britain. Half the audience are living in urban areas. I love living in London, I think it’s important to connect the dots to know where your food comes from, to know that you wanting to pay not very much for your milk has an impact in what is happening in our rural communities.”

Blue Planet II is at Leeds First Direct Arena on March 19. “I’m bringing it home,” said Anita. “I grew up in Bradford, but went to Leeds Uni.” Tickets are from eventim.co.uk, seetickets.com and blueplanet2live.co.uk