Sir David Attenborough has been the face and voice of the BBC’s natural history programmes for over 70 years.

But he now has competition from a more glitzy candidate, as the corporation announced it would broadcast a new ten-part nature series narrated by Tom Hanks.

The Oscar-winning actor, 68, will provide commentary for The Americas, a new epic series which has been five years in the making and filmed over 180 expeditions.

It will air on BBC One later this year and will explore the wildlife on the Atlantic coast, Mexico, Wild West, the Amazon, the frozen North, the Gulf coast, the Andes, the Caribbean, the West coast and Patagonia.

Toby Gorman, one of the American executives behind the series, which is a co-production between BBC Studios and NBCUniversal, said: ‘We asked ourselves, who is the American version of David Attenborough? 

'When we embarked on this we wanted to go as big as possible and after some conversations we said internally that there was a list of one: Tom Hanks. 

'We wanted Tom, it just felt right. What we didn’t know is whether he would want to do it. [But] it resonated with him.’

It is not the first time that A-list celebrities have been drafted in to narrate natural history epics, as BBC programme makers increasingly turn to younger, more famous voices.

Sherlock actor Benedict Cumberbatch has lent his voice to BBC series South Pacific and documentary Arctic: Our Frozen Planet, while Doctor Who star David Tennant has narrated the BBC’s Spy in the Wild.

It is not understood if Sir David, 98, was considered as the narrator of The Americas by the programme makers.

The veteran filmmaker was last heard on the BBC in November providing the commentary for Asia, a seven-part series exploring the natural wonders of the planet's largest continent.

Later this year he will also narrate a feature-length documentary called David Attenborough: Ocean, which will stream on Disney+.

BBC producer Mike Gunton, who has worked closely with Sir David for four decades and is the executive producer of The Americas, previously admitted he once asked the famed narrator if he ever had plans to retire.

According to him, Sir David responded: ‘I don’t know what that word means.’

Mr Gunton added: ‘Working with him in his nineties is not that hard, because he can do almost anything.’

Jo Lapping, head of BBC Factual Acquisition, said she was ‘delighted’ to bring the new programme to the BBC, and described Mr Hanks, the series’s composer Hans Zimmer, BBC Studios and American studio NBCUniversal as a ‘dream team’.

Mr Hanks is one of the most recognisable faces in Hollywood having starred in movies such as Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump and Toy Story. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.