It is the most famous sequence ever captured on a natural history film - the unforgettable moment when Sir David Attenborough becomes the plaything of a baby gorilla.
Now it has emerged the scene was nearly left on the cutting-room floor because BBC producers thought it was too trivial for the landmark series Life on Earth.
Sir David's encounter with Rwanda's mountain gorillas has entranced 500 million viewers worldwide. The series was first broadcast in the UK in 1979 and is regularly voted one of television's most memorable moments.
Sir David had wanted to use the gorillas as a backdrop while he talked about the evolutionary advantage of the opposable thumb. But he came face-to-face with the adult female and won the gorillas' trust by standing his ground and whispering an ad lib to camera. When Sir David returned the next day, the female and two young gorillas began to groom and play with him, pawing his face and taking his shoes. In his memoirs, Sir David described it as "one of the most exciting encounters of my life".
But the sequence caused a huge bust-up and was nearly cut from the final programme, a new book reveals.