Stephen Fry to Narrate Documentary for U.K.'s History Channel

LONDON – Writer, broadcaster and comedian Stephen Fry will lend his voice to 12-part documentary series Mankind The Story of All of Us for U.K. pay TV channel History.

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Produced for the network by production company Nutopia, headed by former Discovery Channel U.S. president and BBC2 controller Jane Root, the documentary combines CGI and dramatic reconstruction to tell the story of mankind.

The series will debut on History in November and promises to focus on humans' fight for survival on a harsh planet.

Fry, known for narrating the Harry Potter audio books, said: "Just when you thought you knew it all, along comes a fantastic series, which throws a whole new and surprising light on the events that shaped our survival on this planet."

Adam MacDonald, vp of programming, A+E Networks UK, added: His [Fry's] intelligent and engaging delivery is a perfect match for the program’s storytelling. This epic television series will look at the history of the human race through the ages in a way that is highly ambitious in the scale of its cinematic vision and dramatic reconstructions of the most critical events in human history."

Root said she believes the documentary "will fundamentally change the way we view the world forever." She added: "Who better to take viewers on this spectacular journey of exploration than the multi-talented Stephen Fry, who has a thirst for knowledge, science and discovery that is infectious and unrivalled."

Mankind is produced by Nutopia and led by executive producers Ben Goold and Root, the team behind America the Story of Us, a 2010 Emmy-winning show and the most-watched special on the History network here.

History first launched in the U.K. in 1995 and is currently available in over 300 million TV households, in over 150 countries, in more than 30 languages worldwide.

It is available in the U.K. on both BSkyB's pay-TV satellite platform and Virgin's cable operation.