People are buzzing because Sir David Attenborough and 'Blue Planet' are coming back this year

OK, hands up everyone else who saw David Attenborough trending this morning and immediately shat their pants?

But he’s not dead, thank god. Who knows what’ll happen to this country the day that goes down? For now it’s fine, we don’t have to worry about that right now – because Dave isn’t just alive and well, he’s coming back to our TV screens later this year.

The BBC has announced that 16 years after the first series aired in 2001, Blue Planet is returning, and Attenborough will be on hand to narrate us through it – as if it could have been anyone else.

Like Planet Earth’s 2016 reboot, the show will be titled Blue Planet II, and it will consist of seven episodes (one more than we got for Planet Earth).

There’s no word on when exactly we can expect it to come out quite yet, but Planet Earth II’s first episode aired on November 6 last year, so there’s a chance the BBC might decide to put this out around the same kind of time.

The show, which has taken four years to film across every continent, will highlight a range of new underwater scientific discoveries, and uses new filming technology such as cameras suctioned to the backs of whale sharks and orcas, giving us a view of what the creatures themselves are seeing.

"I am truly thrilled to be joining this new exploration of the underwater worlds which cover most of our planet, yet are still its least known," Sir David told the BBC.

James Honeyborne, the executive producer, added: "The oceans are the most exciting place to be right now, because new scientific discoveries have given us a new perspective of life beneath the waves.

"Blue Planet II is taking its cue from these breakthroughs, unveiling unbelievable new places, extraordinary new behaviours and remarkable new creatures. Showing a contemporary portrait of marine life, it will provide a timely reminder that this is a critical moment for the health of the world's oceans."

People are obviously buzzing to have Attenborough back on our screens, especially given a number of Planet Earth II’s episodes achieved well over 10 million viewers, and it’s currently the top-rated show of all time on IMDb.

So what can we expect from the new series? Well the BBC say we’ll be treated to a newly discovered species of crab dubbed the “Hoff crab” – because it has a hairy chest, a tuskfish that knows how to use tools, a mother sperm whale diving with her calf and a type of fish called a giant trevally fish that can catch birds in-flight.

Is it wrong to wish away all the rest of this year until this show comes out? If it is, we can only apologise.