BBC Natural History Unit


Wildstar Films snags BBC Natural History Unit boss to head development & production

UK factual prodco Wildstar Films has appointed Doug Mackay-Hope, the former head of development at the BBC Natural History Unit, as SVP of development and production. Mackay-Hope spent eight years leading development for the BBC Studios business, working on globally successful series including Big Blue Live, Attenborough And The Giant Dinosaur and Endangered for Discovery, alongside Blue Planet II and Seven Worlds. Before […]

TBI Kids: BBC Studios on the global reach of ‘Planet Defenders’

We often hear how the future of the planet and the animals that live upon it rest in the hands of the next generation – and this new series from the BBC Studios Natural History Unit aims to assure us that the conservationists of tomorrow have a firm grip on things. Kicking off last Friday, […]

TBI Factual: How UK city of Bristol became a global production powerhouse

Andrew Jackson is president of international production & development at Plimsoll Productions, based out of Bristol in the UK. He reflects on how this relatively small UK city became famed for its natural history programming and explores what’s next for this creative powerhouse When I first came to Bristol, about the only thing I knew […]

Natural history co-pros unlikely as genre evolves for SVODs

Alastair Fothergill, producer of Netflix’s Our Planet, has warned that SVOD players “will not consider co-productions” around natural history in the future as the digital giants look to plant their flags in the genre. The veteran natural history producer, who left the BBC’s Natural History Unit (NHU) in 2012 to set up Silverback Films, suggested […]

BBC NHU, DHX open The Zoo for CBBC

UK kids channel CBBC has commissioned a ob-doc series in which the animals of Paignton Zoo will star. The Zoo comes from CBBC’s BBC sister division BBC Natural History Unit and Canada’s DHX Media. It will air on UK public broadcast television next year, with DHX taking international sales rights. The 30-part series began shooting […]

BBC, Endemol alum launches Objective prodco

Former BBC Natural History Unit and Endemol exec Gavin Henderson has set up an indie within All3Media production group Objective Media. Henderson (pictured) was most recently creative director at Grant Mansfield’s Plimsoll Productions, where he worked, but is now launching Highwire Productions. The indie will focus on “ambitious” male-skewed entertainment and adventures formats, as Objective, […]

Blue chip to new chip: natural history with bite

Stewart Clarke speaks to commissioners, producers, distributors and digital pioneers about their efforts to reimagine the natural history genre. Alastair Fothergill is the embodiment of blue-chip, making landmark series for the BBC and films for Disney Nature, but he is now seeking to reinvent the genre, out of necessity as much as anything. “When I […]

Ex-Discovery specials chief joins Mansfield’s Plimsoll

Former Discovery Communications and BBC factual programming boss Andrew Jackson has joined Grant Mansfield’s fledgling production company. Jackson has taken the post of executive VP, international production at Plimsoll Productions, which former Zodiak USA boss Mansfield launched in September last year. Jackson will oversee a plan to take Plimsoll into the US market. This comes […]

Eddie Izzard to star in BBC science drama

Actor and stand-up Eddie Izzard will star in a science-themed, fact-based drama for UK terrestrial BBC Two as one of a raft of new commissions. Izzard (Ocean’s Twelve, Ocean’s Thirteen) will play British scientist Robert Watson Watt, the inventor of the radar, in Castles in the Sky (pictured). It will sell the story of the […]

MIPJunior Hot Pick: Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures

Andy Day is already known to preschool fans of Andy’s Wild Adventures, in which the kids presenter played a ranger at the fictional Pickle’s Animal Park (actually the UK’s Longleat Safari Park). The BBC’s highly-regarded Natural History Unit is now following up that show with Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures. It will meld images from NHU’s hit […]