Jane Goodall interview marks release of new Netflix series Famous Last Words

The death of Dame Jane Goodall has signalled the launch of a new Netflix show where an interview featuring a public figure is released posthumously.

The conservationist, who was the world’s leading expert on chimpanzee behaviour, died aged 91 from “natural causes” in California, The Jane Goodall Institute said in a statement on Wednesday.

Famous Last Words is based on a Danish TV format of the same name, Det Sidste Ord, and the sessions are recorded by remotely operated cameras, ensuring only the interviewer and interviewee know what was said.

In her episode Dame Jane talks about who she would want to “welcome” her when she dies, saying: “I just hope and pray that some of the chimps, that my special chimps, David Greybeard, Rusty, my childhood dog, Rusty, and some of the others, I hope they’ll be there. And of course, I hope, mum.”

Dame Jane began researching free-living chimpanzees in Tanzania in 1960 and this is where she observed a chimpanzee named David Greybeard making a tool from twigs and using it to fish termites from a nest, a groundbreaking observation that challenged the definition of humans as the single species capable of making tools.

At the end of the episode, in a last address, Dame Jane tells the camera: “I want you to understand that we are part of the natural world, and even today, where the planet is dark, there still is hope. Don’t lose hope…

“For the children alive today and for those that will follow, you have it in your power to make a difference. Don’t give up. There is a future for you.

“Do your best while you’re still on this beautiful planet Earth that I look down upon, from where I am now.”

US TV writer Brad Falchuk, who interviewed Dame Jane for the series, said: “Jane Goodall was fearless in all things. She deeply loved humanity and the natural world.

“It was clear to me in our conversation that she was approaching her final adventure with the same fearlessness, hope, humour, and joy that she approached everything else in life. She was one of the world’s greatest and most beloved champions of good.”

Following her death, tributes poured in for the ethologist, who began researching free-living chimpanzees at a time when it was unheard of for a woman to venture into the wilds of Africa.

Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio said “we all must carry the torch” for Dame Jane and protect “our one shared home”, in a post to Instagram.

Elsewhere, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex described her as “a visionary humanitarian, scientist, friend to the planet, and friend to us” while Sir David Attenborough praised the primatologist as a “tireless advocate” for chimpanzees.

Naturalist and TV presenter Chris Packham lauded the conservationist’s work as “revolutionary” and told BBC News that Dame Jane “was up against it” when she began her career.