Viewers were moved to tears as Sir David Attenborough’s new series debuted on BBC One.

Each episode of Dynasties follows a different endangered animal, starting with an in-depth look at the chimpanzee.

Upcoming instalments will focus on emperor penguins, hunting dogs, lions and tigers.

People tuning in said they were moved by the story of chimpanzee David, an alpha male fighting to hold on to his position with rivals all around him.

“In tears watching #Dynasties! What a brilliant piece of filming, #david is a true champion,” one person posted on Twitter.

“#Dynasties. Another beautifully shot documentary about hierarchy in nature that has me in tears. Also David Attenborough is and will forever be, *the man*,” said another.

Another tweeter said the programme was “an emotional roller coaster”.

Sir David, 92, was praised as “a legend” by fans online.

“David the chimp and Sir David Attenborough are a pair of legends. Dynasties was amazing !!!!” said one person.

Another tweeted: “Whatever #DavidAttenborough touches turns to gold, the man is amazing.

“That #Dynasties programme about the chimps was fascinating, it was like watching our staff room but seriously I couldn’t take my eyes off it. So many life lessons there.”

The programme was filmed all over the world.

The naturalist has said he was on the “edge of his seat” watching footage from the series.

He said: “Dynasties came from an idea that it would be interesting to follow a particular group of animals which scientists watching them had thought was going to have some kind of revolution.

“Maybe lions taking over a different pride, maybe chimpanzees having a competition for leadership.

“Then the producer made a very bold statement: we will put a crew, a film crew, and we will film exactly what happened, and we don’t know whether it’ll be a triumph, we don’t know whether it’ll be a tragedy. But we’ll show you the truth.

“I only saw it when the films were finally edited and came back. And they didn’t tell me what was going to happen and I was on the edge of my seat too because in the most remarkable way you identify with some of these characters.”