Benedict Cumberbatch presented the world premiere of How to Live on Earth, a documentary about people working with nature, on the first night of London Climate Action Week.
How to Live on Earth had its world premiere at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on Monday 22 June 2026, on the opening night of London Climate Action Week.
Benedict Cumberbatch, who presents and narrates the film, spoke before the screening. He was born in London in 1976 to the actors Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham, and after Harrow he read drama at the University of Manchester and took a master’s degree in classical acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Sherlock made him a household name from 2010, and he has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor twice, for The Imitation Game and The Power of the Dog.
Three of the film’s contributors joined him: the climate campaigner Xiye Bastida, Dan O’Neill and Sam Kass, the chef who served as White House nutrition adviser. Jonnie Hughes, the film’s co-director and co-founder of Open Planet Studios, opened the evening.
Hughes, who co-directed David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, shared the direction with Fredi Devas, whose credits include Planet Earth II and III. The documentary gathers stories from around the world of people learning to work with nature rather than against it, with music by Hans Zimmer, Jacob Shea and Ho-Ling Tang. Together Films released it in British cinemas on 26 June, and it was due to reach YouTube worldwide later in the year.