THE simply breathtaking cinematography of David Attenborough’s blockbuster series Life has hypnotised the nation, as nature’s spectacles are played out in our living rooms. But while the majority of us are well aware this is the closest we will ever get to feuding komodo dragons or feasting polar bears, ten lucky youngsters are reliving their experiences of going behind the scenes of the extraordinary series for CBBC’s Inside Life.

One such ‘agent’ is 13-year-old Gregory from Walthamstow, who travelled to Tobago with the Natural History Unit and Life film crew in pursuit of the magnificent but deceptively dangerous frigate birds last March.

Truly a trip of a lifetime, the Frederick Bremer pupil who was accompanied by his mother, spent ten days shadowing the team and reporting back on his exploits via a video diary, which will be aired on Tuesday, November 10.

Speaking about some of his most memorable experiences, he tells me: “My scariest moment definitely has to be when the film crew and I were reporting on a steep slope next to a frigate bird’s nest, because either side of us there was a huge drop down to the rocky shore.”

Another “high”, both literally and figuratively, came when Gregory joined the crew on a helicopter flight to capture tricky shots of the birds flying and eating. “It was the most amazing experience,” the teenager exclaims.

An ambitious achiever and lifelong animal lover, Gregory answered an advert to become an agent on the show last year, confidently saying: “I have always liked animals, but because of my allergies we never had any pets. Then, when I saw the advert, I thought, go for it. I’m a pretty fun guy, they might choose me.”

A second round of challenges at Woburn Safari Park, revealed him to be a natural in front of the camera with an impressive knowledge of wildlife, but Gregory still didn’t believe it when he made it to the final ten.

“I didn’t think it was true,” he recalls. “They phoned my house and my mum picked up the phone. She told me I got through, and I said wow and went back to the watching TV, I thought my mum was playing tricks.”

Now concentrating on his school work, Gregory, who is taking his science GSCE two years early and his maths and French a year early, says the experience has given him food for thought.

“The biggest thing I learned about myself, is that I can achieve more than I thought. There isn’t a lot to do in the environment I live in, but I know that when I get put into a different environment I can have a go at different things and achieve.”

So could we be looking at the next David Attenborough of the future?

“I don’t know,” he muses. “Maybe in the future I could have a job in documentary film-making, but at the moment I’m keeping my options open.”

Gregory’s Inside Life episode will air on the CBBC Channel on Tuesday, November 10, 5.15pm.