BBC NATURAL HISTORY UNIT

The 'BBC Natural History Unit' ('NHU') is a department of the BBC dedicated to making TV and radio programmes with a natural history or wildlife theme, especially nature documentaries.
Co-founded in 1957 by Desmond Hawkins and Tony Soper, it is based in Clifton, Bristol. The Unit is presently headed by Neil Nightingale as part of the BBC's Vision Studios. Every year it makes about 100 hours of television and 50 hours of radio making it the largest wildlife documentary production house in the world^[1].
A commercial arm of the NHU, Wildvision, produces a variety of programmes for both the BBC and external broadcasters, notably Discovery's Animal Planet digital channel, in which the BBC is a joint partner with Discovery Networks.
In 2007 the Unit celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Contents

Heads of the NHU

Past programmes

The ''Life'' strand

Chronology of the ''Life'' strand

The 'Continents' strand

Chronology of 'Continents' strand

In production

Awards and recognition

Filmography

References

External links

Heads of the NHU

★ Desmond Hawkins 1954-1957

★ Brandon Acton-Bond 1957-1958

★ Tony Soper 1959

★ Bruce Campbell (1960 - 1962)

★ Nicholas Crocker (1962 - 1973)

★ Mick Rhodes (1973 - 1979)

★ Chris Parsons (1979 - 1983)

★ John Sparks (1983 - 1988)

★ Andrew Neil (1988 - 1992)

★ Alastair Fothergill (1992 - 1998)

★ Keith Scholey (1998 - 2003)

★ Neil Nightingale (2003 - present)

Past programmes

The long-running magazine LOOK (1956-69) established the unit's impregnable position as the world's leading wildlife production facility. Its many successes include the various major David Attenborough series. From 1977 to 2005 the Unit also produced the long-running series ''Wildlife on One'' (variously retitled ''Wildlife on Two'' and ''BBC Wildlife'') and since 1983 has produced BBC2's flagship natural history strand ''Natural World'' (formerly titled ''The World About Us''). It also produced the long-running children's natural history series, ''Animal Magic'' , Wildtrack and ''The Really Wild Show''.
The Unit has had notable successes in recent years with its signature high-budget landmark series such as ''The Blue Planet'' (2001) and its follow-up ''Planet Earth'' (2006). The latter was the Unit's first programme to be shot entirely in high definition. ''Deep Blue'' was a single feature-length documentary based on ''The Blue Planet'' and given a cinema release in 2003.

The ''Life'' strand

David Attenborough is the Natural History Unit’s most high-profile presenter and has written and presented a string of critically-acclaimed series under the ''Life'' banner. Attenborough first had the notion of a blockbuster natural history series during his time as Controller of BBC2, when he commissioned ambitious documentary series on other subjects such as Kenneth Clark’s ''Civilisation'' and Jacob Bronowski’s ''The Ascent of Man''. A factor in his decision to return to programme making in the 1970s was so that he could write the natural history series himself, and ''Life on Earth'' was the result.

Chronology of the ''Life'' strand

# ''Life on Earth'' (1979), 13x55'
# ''The Living Planet'' (1984), 12x55'
# ''The Trials of Life'' (1990), 12x50'
# ''Life in the Freezer'' (1993), 6x30'
# ''The Private Life of Plants'' (1995), 6x50'
# ''The Life of Birds'' (1998), 10x50'
# ''The Life of Mammals'' (2002), 10x50'
# ''Life in the Undergrowth'' (2005), 5x50'
# ''Life in Cold Blood'' (2008), 5x50', in production
The first three series form the original ''Life'' trilogy. Starting with the plants in 1995, Attenborough has devoted a series to each of the main groups of organisms on land, a task he will complete with his final series on reptiles and amphibians, ''Life in Cold Blood''.

The 'Continents' strand

The BBC Natural History Unit’s 'Continents' series focus on particular land areas and are characterised by their high production values, a style referred to as 'blue-chip' in the industry. The series aim to showcase the landscapes, landforms, plants and animals of all the Earth’s land areas.
They are characterised by extensive use of aerial photography, satellite images and specially commissioned soundtracks often featuring local instruments or rhythms. Many of them have been accompanied by tie-in releases of VHS tapes, DVDs and books.
The format of the series is usually to focus on a particular habitat or geographical region for each episode.

Chronology of 'Continents' strand

# ''Land of the Eagle'' (1990), 8x50', North America, narrated by Alan Ereira
# ''Realms of the Russian Bear'' (1992), 6x50', North and Central Asia, presented by Nikolai Drozdov
# ''Life in the Freezer'' (1993), 6x30', Antarctica, presented by David Attenborough
# ''Land of the Tiger'' (1997), 6x50', Indian Subcontinent, presented by Valmik Thapar
# ''Andes to Amazon'' (2000), 6x50', South America, narrated by Fergal Keane
# ''Wild Africa'' (2001), 6x50', Africa, narrated by Fergal Keane
# ''Wild Down Under'' (2003), 6x50', Australasia, narrated by Matt Day
# ''Wild Caribbean'' (2007), 4x50', Caribbean, narrated by Steve Toussaint
# ''Wild China'' (2008), 6x50', China, in production^[2].
The BBC has announced that ''Wild China'' will mark the culmination of the 'Continents' series. This will mean that all regions of the Earth’s land surface will have been covered, except for Europe and South East Asia. Europe and North America have both been the subject of other BBC series which examine how the continents have changed over time (''Wild New World'' and ''Europe - A Natural History'')
The British Isles were not featured in ''Europe - A Natural History'', but have been the subject of numerous other series by the NHU.

In production

As well as the aforementioned ''Life in Cold Blood'' and ''Wild China'', the Natural History Unit has a number of other projects in production.
Alan Titchmarsh has filmed a follow-up to 2004's ''British Isles - A Natural History'' called ''The Nature of Britain'', due to screen on BBC1 this autumn^[3]. Later on in the year the BBC will air a two-hour special to mark 100 years of wildlife filmmaking.
Several forthcoming series are being filmed entirely in high-definition. Foremost amongst them is ''LIFE'', the NHU's next blockbuster series following ''Planet Earth'', which will mark the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth in 2009 by looking at the diversity of life over the course of 10 episodes. ''Earth's Great Events'', a six-part series on global climactic phenomena co-produced with Spain's Wanda Films^[4], is also in production. ''The Human Planet'' is an ambitious project to chronicle all the ethnic diversity of humankind spearheaded by Bob Geldof with the BBC contributing an eight-part series on anthropology, co-produced by BBC Wales, BBC Bristol and the NHU^[5].
In April 2007, the NHU embarked on another production, ''South Pacific'', for which filming will continue until late 2009^[6].
''Planet Earth'' will yield a theatrical documentary of its own entitled ''Earth'', narrated by Patrick Stewart and due for release in 2007. A feature-length documentary called ''The Meerkats'', co-produced with BBC Films and The Weinstein Company is currently being filmed^[7].

Awards and recognition

The Natural History Unit as a whole was awarded the Gold Medal at the 2001 Royal Television Society awards for its "outstanding contribution over the past 44 years to broadcasting about the natural world". It was praised for being a "a national resource for people's understanding and love of wildlife on our planet, and a symbol of both quality and talent in public service broadcasting"^[8].
The programmes and major contributors have been recognised by many other awards, including the Emmys, BAFTA, the Queen's honours list and various wildlife film festivals. Further details are provided in the relevant articles for specific series.
Recognition has also come in the form of high audience viewing figures and audience approval ratings, particularly for 'blue-chip' series such as ''Planet Earth''. When first screened in the UK it was watched by more than 8 million people^[9].

Filmography

This chronological NHU filmography is not intended to be exhaustive given the large amount of material the Unit has produced in its history, but it does capture all the major series for which it has gained recognition.
The following abbreviations are used in the filmography table:

★ intr = introduced by

★ narr = narrator

★ pres = presenter

★ prod = producer
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| 'Series Title' || 'Year(s) Broadcast' || 'Subject' || 'Contributors'
|-
| ''Zoo Quest'' || 1954 - 1963 || Various animal collecting expeditions || David Attenborough (pres)
|-
| ''Look'' || 1955 - 1969 || Weekly magazine show || Peter Scott (intr) Desmond Hawkins (prod) Tony Soper (prod)
|-
| ''Faraway Look'' || 1957 || Wildlife of Australasia || Peter and Philippa Scott (pres)
''Faraway Look''1959 Wildlife of Galapagos Peter Scott (pres) Tony Soper (prod)
|-
| ''On Safari'' || 1957 - 1965 || Filming animals in East Africa || Armand and Michaela Denis (pres)
|-
| ''Undersea World of Adventure''/''Adventure'' || 1958 - 1960 || Sea life || Hans and Lotte Hass (pres) Tony Soper (prod)
|-
| ''Animal Magic'' || 1962 - 1983 || Weekly magazine show for children || Johnny Morris (pres)
|-
| ''The World About Us''|| 1967 - 1983 || Weekly blue-chip documentary strand || Various (often independent productions)
|-
| ''Eastwards with Attenborough'' || 1973 || Expedition to South East Asia || David Attenborough (pres)
|-
| ''The Tribal Eye'' || 1975 || Tribal art || David Attenborough (pres)
|-
| ''Wildlife on One'' || 1977 - 2005 || Weekly series profiling different animals || David Attenborough (narr)
|-
| ''Life on Earth'' || 1979 || The evolution of life || David Attenborough (pres)
|-
| ''Natural World'' || 1983 - 2007 || Weekly blue-chip documentary strand || Various (often independent productions)
|-
| ''The Living Planet'' || 1984 || How organisms adapt to their environment || David Attenborough (pres)
|-
| ''The Living Isles'' || 1985 || British wildlife || Julian Pettifer (pres) and Peter Crawford (prod)
|-
| ''The Really Wild Show'' || 1986 - 2006 || Weekly magazine show for children || Terry Nutkins (pres), Chris Packham (pres), Michaela Strachan (pres) and others
|-
| ''Supersense'' || 1988 || Sensory perception in animals || Andrew Sachs (narr)
|-
| ''The Trials of Life'' || 1990 || Animal behaviour || David Attenborough (pres)
|-
| ''Land of the Eagle'' || 1991 || The colonisation of North America || Alan Ereira (narr)
|-
| ''Realms of the Russian Bear'' || 1992 || Natural history of the former USSR states || Nikolai Drozdov (pres)
|-
| ''Sea Trek'' || 1992 || Exploration of dive sites || Martha Holmes (pres) and Mike deGruy (pres)
|-
| ''Life in the Freezer'' || 1993 || Natural history of Antarctica || David Attenborough (pres) and Alastair Fothergill (prod)
|-
| ''The Private Life of Plants'' || 1995 || A study of the plants || David Attenborough (pres)
|-
| ''The Wildlife Specials'' || 1995 - 2002 || One-off profiles of individual species || David Attenborough (narr)
|-
| ''Big Cat Diary''/''Big Cat Week'' || 1996 - 2007 || Family lives of the Masai Mara's lions, leopards and cheetahs || Jonathan Scott (pres), Simon King (pres) and Saba Douglas-Hamilton (pres)
|-
| ''Birding with Bill Oddie'' || 1997 - 2000 || Birdwatching in the UK and abroad || Bill Oddie (pres)
|-
| ''Land of the Tiger'' || 1997 || Natural history of the Indian subcontinent || Valmik Thapar (pres)
|-
| ''Incredible Journeys'' || 1998 || Animal migration || Geoffrey Palmer (narr) and Nigel Marven (prod)
|-
| ''The Life of Birds'' || 1998 || A natural history of birds || David Attenborough (pres)
|-
| ''Living Britain'' || 1999 || British natural history || Peter Crawford (prod)
|-
| ''Walking with Dinosaurs''/''Beasts''/''Monsters'' || 1999 - 2005 || CGI reconstruction of prehistoric creatures || Kenneth Branagh (narr) and Tim Haines (prod)
|-
| ''Andes to Amazon'' || 2000 || A portrait of South American landscapes and wildlife || Fergal Keane (narr)
|-
| ''Cousins'' || 2000 || Primates || Charlotte Uhlenbroek (pres)
|-
| ''State of the Planet'' || 2000 || The impact of humans on the natural world || David Attenborough (pres)
|-
| ''Spy in the...'' || 2000 - 2007 || Hidden cameras film lions, elephants, bears and the wildebeest migration || David Attenborough (narr)
|-
| ''The Blue Planet'' || 2001 || A natural history of the oceans || David Attenborough (narr) and Alastair Fothergill (prod)
|-
| ''Ultimate Killers'' || 2001 || Hunting techniques of predators || Steve Leonard (pres)
|-
| ''Wild Africa'' || 2001 || A portrait of Africa's landscapes and wildlife || Fergal Keane (narr)
|-
| ''Talking with Animals'' || 2001 || Animal communication || Charlotte Uhlenbroek (narr)
|-
| ''Bill Oddie Goes Wild'' || 2001 - 2003 || Watching British wildlife || Bill Oddie (pres)
|-
| ''The Life of Mammals || 2002 || A natural history of mammals || David Attenborough (pres)
|-
| ''Wild Battlefields'' || 2002 - 2003 || How lions, polar bears, tiger sharks and wolves hunt their prey ||
|-
| ''Abyss''/''Amazon Abyss''/''Pacific Abyss'' || 2002 - 2007 || Expeditions exploring the deep oceans and the Amazon river || Kate Humble (pres) and Mike deGruy (pres)
|-
| ''Wild In Your Garden'' || 2003 || Garden wildlife || Bill Oddie (pres), Kate Humble (pres) and Simon King (pres)
|-
| ''Wild Down Under'' || 2003 || A portrait of Australasia's landscapes and wildlife || Matt Day (narr)
|-
| ''Jungle'' || 2003 || Wildlife of the world's rainforests || Charlotte Uhlenbroek (pres)
|-
| ''Britain Goes Wild'' || 2004 || The coming of spring in Britain || Bill Oddie (pres), Kate Humble (pres) and Simon King (pres)
|-
| ''British Isles - A Natural History'' || 2004 || The natural history of the British Isles || Alan Titchmarsh (pres)
|-
| ''Life in the Undergrowth'' || 2005 || A study of terrestrial invertebrates || David Attenborough (pres)
|-
| ''Bill Oddie's How to Watch Wildlife'' || 2005 - 2006 || Watching British wildlife || Bill Oddie (pres)
|-
| ''Coast'' || 2005 - 2007 || Journeying around Britain's coastline (additional material by the NHU) || Nicholas Crane (pres) and Neil Oliver (pres)
|-
| ''Springwatch and Autumnwatch'' || 2005 - 2007 || Observing British wildlife in spring and autumn || Bill Oddie (pres), Kate Humble (pres} and Simon King (pres)
|-
| ''Planet Earth'' || 2006 || A portrait of Earth's wildernesses and wildlife spectacles || David Attenborough (narr) and Alastair Fothergill (prod)
|-
| ''Galápagos'' || 2006 || A natural history of the Pacific islands || Tilda Swinton (narr)
|-
| ''Climate Chaos'' season || 2006 || A season of programmes dedicated to climate change || David Attenborough (pres, ''Are We Changing Planet Earth?'')
|-
| ''Wild Caribbean'' || 2007 || A natural history of the Caribbean islands and Sea || Steve Toussaint (narr)
|-
| ''Saving Planet Earth'' season || 2007 || A season of programmes dedicated to wildlife conservation || David Attenborough (pres, "Sharing Planet Earth") and Alan Titchmarsh (pres, live fundraising evening)
|}

References

1. Directory of Production Companies
2. BBC goes wild about China
3. Titchmarsh at home with wildlife
4. Nota Buzz #82 - March 12th 2007
5. Geldof helps map human A-Z
6. BBC sets sail for South Pacific
7. First penguins, now meerkats
8. RTS Programme Awards - 2001
9. BBC finds a treasure in Planet Earth

External links

★ BBC Science and Nature

★ BBC Factual Programmes unoffical site

★ BBC Programme Catalogue