Great Barrier Reef with David Attenborough, TV review: Sixty years on and still nobody does it better

Sir David made an emotional return to Australia's north-east coast to re-explore some of the 1,400-mile long coral system

Making waves: David Attenborough with submersible pilot Buck Taylor in 'Great Barrier Reef' (BBC)

Heading out to see some fireworks tonight to ring in the New Year? Well, don't bother, because the greatest fireworks show on earth (if you can call thousands of coral simultaneously spawning in amazing multicoloured "fireworks") was broadcast on the BBC tonight and now everything else pales by comparison.

Thanks once again to Sir David Attenborough, the BBC delivered another incredible piece of nature programming with the opening episode of Great Barrier Reef.Having first visited the Reef almost 60 years ago, Sir David made an emotional return to Australia's north-east coast to re-explore some of the 1,400-mile long coral system.

The black-and-white films of Sir David in the Fifties were a joy. Remarkable footage captured his first visit to Lizard Island on the reef in 1957. Now home to a world-famous research station, back then it was uninhabited and the film showed a young David, clad in nothing but a pair of canvas shorts, arriving by rowing boat.

Back in the modern day, his night-time trip in a three-man Triton submersible offered impressive access to hundreds of colourful corals – and a very nonchalant giant turtle. But never mind the wildlife, I was more distracted by the explanation of the on-board toilet facilities. "Obviously, because it's quite confined it's not very discreet," chuckled sub captain Buck Taylor. "We have some towels that we can hold up around you."

As always, Sir David captured mind-blowing imagery of nature at work. Tiny orange clown fish were seen sheltering in stinging corals as he explained how a coating of mucus prevents them from getting hurt.

Most impressive of all was the aforementioned "fireworks" display. Each year, in October or November and within days of a full moon, all of the coral in the reef come together for an incredible act of synchronised reproduction. Known, somewhat unimaginatively, as the Great Spawning Event, the actual trigger remains unknown but the light of the moon, temperature of the waters and state of the tide all play a part.

Unrivalled footage revealed small bundles of sperm and eggs bulging from the coral polyps in the build-up before the beautiful – and colourful – mass release. The night-time event, all the more stunning for the black background, was like the most decadent fireworks display ever imagined – but in slow motion and without the irritating backing track of "oohs and ahhs". If that's his opening gambit, I can't wait to see what Sir David has in store for next week.

A nature documentary is a rare treat at this time of year as this week is traditionally dominated by cookery shows and countdown/review programmes – enter Charlie Brooker and his annual Wipe, or sarcastic review of the year. Brooker cut through 2015's key news events – mostly the general election and Corbynmania – with his sharp tongue to great comic effect.

Highlights included his description of Ed Miliband ("a human balloon animal") and his assessment of Walter Palmer, the dentist who killed Cecil the lion. "Palmer had previous for beast murder. Back then, nobody cared though because those animals didn't have names." With all the animal talk, you could have been forgiven for thinking that another nature show had snuck its way into the schedule.