Read Libby Purves on the row

Top wildlife broadcaster Sir David Attenborough has called for the BBC to take action after a Dutch broadcaster removed references to evolution from one of his documentaries.

Sir David, who has been broadcasting on natural history for the BBC for more than 50 years, is concerned that the creationist television company Evangelical Broadcasting changed parts of his 2002 series, The Life of Mammals, to fit with the Biblical view of natural history.

In one part, Sir David's commentary was changed from: "We will look at the lives of our closest relatives," to "we will look at the monkeys." In another, a reference to something happening several million years ago was changed to say that it happened a "long time ago".

The changes were logged and an online petition against them and any future changes begun by biologists Gerdien de Jong and Hans Roskam. They are supported by dozens of scientists from across the continent anxious to prevent "fundamentalist religious creationist views" from influencing material broadcast under the banner of the BBC.

Among the changes documented by the scientists is the phrase: "To catch a glimps of the very beginnings of the mammalian dynasty we must travel to Australia", altered to, "Our research brings us to start with to Australia."

The phrase: "I'm looking for one of the most ancient of all mammals – it's so ancient it shares at least one characteristic with the reptiles," disappeared from the programme altogether.

And in one of the biggest changes, the phrase: "There were very few other mammals on earth a 100 million year ago when the first platypus appeared but there was another kind of animal hunting in the rivers," became: "The platypus is one of the few mammals that hunts in water. Yet, the rivers know certainly other hunters."

The Dutch version also mentioned fossils without the dates given in the original script, and some of the scenes with Sir David were cut completely.

The Dutch broadcaster is understood to have acted within its contract. The BBC allows broadcasters to make up to five minutes per hour of changes to remove culturally insensitive references, or accommodate advertisements.

Speaking today to The Times, Sir David said his concern was that his words should be translated as completely and accurately as possible. "The changes they have made are almost entirely changes of omission," he said.

He acknowledged that as the series had already gone out, and nothing in the contract had been breached, there was little that could be done about it now. But in future, he said, if it was legally possible, the BBC might want to request notice of any changes, and the option to say "yes" or "no".

Sir David said: "It applies to a lot of things. It applies to all of our output. There could be political situations where we might find someone would wish to try and change something people say. I have been talking to the BBC to find out what we can do about this."

He said the five-minute agreement had been in place for many years and that some flexibility was essential. "In other coutries, copulating animals might not be as happy viewing as they are here. It seems unreasonable to suggest that people should not be able to cut out some sequences."

He did not think the alterations made it look as though the BBC was on the side of creationism. "Most of what the programme is about are straightforward accounts of the way in which animals behave. We have not gone into the question of whether there is a Divine Architect or not." But broadcasters should not be able to change programmes in ways that would alter their meanings, he said.

A BBC spokesman said: "BBC Worldwide takes the protection of its brands and content very seriously. With thousands of hours being sold to hundreds of networks all over the world each year, BBC Worldwide allows local broadcasters to make edits but only up to a narrow margin of five minutes per hour."

Henk Hagoort, director of Evangelical Broadcasting, known as EO in Holland, told The Tablet: "It is perfectly normal to modify or not broadcast certain parts of a documentary."

Terry Sanderson, president, National Secular Society, said: “This is yet more evidence that creationists cannot make a convincing case without distorting the evidence. The fact is, they don’t have a case.

"Creationism is theology and trying to make it cross over into science that requires evidence to support it, means that convoluted and ridiculous explanations have to be invented to give a supernatural spin to perfectly natural events. It’s quite sad, really."