Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Showcasing Science, Showcasing Nature on BBC2

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
BBC Wildlife Documentaries in the Age of Attenborough

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture ((PSSPC))

  • 359 Accesses

Abstract

The launch of BBC2 in 1964 led to profound changes in wildlife television. The new channel was designed to increase the broadcasting of knowledge-based content. This brief gave free rein to David Attenborough, as controller of the new channel, to establish new programme formats and content. Under Attenborough’s aegis, the Life series fronted by Desmond Morris brought wildlife television and ethology close together in a new, ‘professional’ approach to natural history. The series The World About Us instated the fifty-minute, film-only format as the default for wildlife television. By the end of the 1960s, wildlife broadcasters at the BBC had succeeded in establishing a professional culture of wildlife television making, distinct from both amateur natural history and big game hunting—one informed by science.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 19.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 29.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Desmond Hawkins, personal letter to Armand Denis, 28 May 1965, BBCWAC SW3/20/1.

  2. 2.

    Assistant Head of Talk, ‘BBC Natural History Unit’, memo from to Assistant Chief of Programmes, Television, 11 October 1962, BBCWAC T31/386.

  3. 3.

    David Attenborough, personal letter to Armand Denis, 21 October 1965, BBCWAC SW3/20/1.

  4. 4.

    Michael Peacock, ‘The BBC-2 Master Pattern. Note by Chief of Programme BBC-2’, 16 October 1963, BBCWAC T62/196/1.

  5. 5.

    David Attenborough to Aubrey Singer, 8 June 1965, BBCWAC T14/2194/1.

  6. 6.

    Desmond Morris, e-mail to author, 17 May 2014.

  7. 7.

    Nicholas Crocker, personal Letter to Desmond Morris, 9 November 1964, p. 1. BBCWAC WE8/430/1.

  8. 8.

    Anthony Storr, personal letter to Philip Daly, 15 November 1963, BBCWAC T14/1810/1.

  9. 9.

    Broadcast 30 May 1964.

  10. 10.

    Head of Outside Broadcasts Feature and Science Programmes, Television to C.BBC-2, ‘Science coverage’, 3 June 1965, BBCWAC T14/2,194/1.

  11. 11.

    David Attenborough to Aubrey Singer, 8 June 1965, BBCWAC T14/2194/1.

  12. 12.

    Sheila Fullom, personal communication to author.

  13. 13.

    Desmond Morris, e-mail to author, 16 May 2014.

  14. 14.

    David Attenborough to Solly Zuckerman, 8 June 1966, BBCWAC TVART3—Dr. Desmond Morris—File 2—1963–1970.

  15. 15.

    Daly to Singer, ‘Horizon magazine programmes’, 5 March 1963, BBCWACT14/3,316/1 (quoted in Boon 2015: 97).

  16. 16.

    Desmond Morris, e-mail to author, 16 May 2014.

  17. 17.

    Barry Paine, Oral history interview, 31 January 2001, Wildscreen.

  18. 18.

    Ronald Webster, ‘Life’, Radio Times, 11 November 1965, p. 15.

  19. 19.

    Ronald Webster, ‘Chimpanzee—Fallen man?’, Radio Times, 9 December 1965, p. 14.

  20. 20.

    David Attenborough to Solly Zuckerman, 8 June 1966, BBCWAC TVART3—Dr Desmond Morris—File 2—1963–1970.

  21. 21.

    Ronald Webster, ‘Life’, Radio Times, 18 August 1966, pp. 15, 13.

  22. 22.

    BBC, ‘Life #42: Tools for research’, first broadcast 11 July 1967.

  23. 23.

    Niko Tinbergen, personal letter to Richard Brock, 16 March 1967, BBCWAC WE8/600/1.

  24. 24.

    The main grant came from the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung. Additional buildings were provided by the Caesar Kleburg Foundation. Operating costs were provided by the Ford Foundation, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and Tanzania National Parks.

  25. 25.

    Desmond Morris, e-mail to author, 19 May 2014.

  26. 26.

    Robert Ardrey, ‘Robert Ardrey’, Radio Times, 2 March 1967, p. 27

  27. 27.

    Ronald Webster, ‘Life’, Radio Times, 11 November 1965, p. 15

  28. 28.

    Jeffery Boswall, ‘Look’, Radio Times, 28 April 1966, p. 37.

  29. 29.

    Christopher Parsons, Oral history interview, 26 July 2001, Wildscreen.

  30. 30.

    Orbiter, ‘Round & about. Starting at the centre’, Radio Times, 30 November 1967, n.p.

  31. 31.

    Ibid.

  32. 32.

    Christopher Parsons, Oral history interview, 26 July 2001, Wildscreen.

  33. 33.

    Richard Wagner, ‘Colour TV awaits audience’, The Times, 2 December 1967, p. 13

  34. 34.

    David Attenborough, ‘American lesson is that ambition pays’, The Times, 16 November 1967, Colour TV, p. III.

  35. 35.

    Controller BBC-2, ‘Alan Root’, memo to Editor Natural History Unit, 17 June 1966, BBCWAC WE21/57/1.

References

  • Agar, J. (2008). What happened in the sixties? The British Journal for the History of Science, 41(4), 567–600.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bocking, S. (1997). Ecologists and environmental politics: A history of contemporary ecology. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boon, T. (2015). ‘The televising of science is a process of television’: Establishing Horizon, 1962–1967. British Journal for the History of Science, 48(1), 87–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burkhardt, R. W. (2005). Patterns of behavior: Konrad Lorenz, Niko Tinbergen, and the founding of ethology. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B. (1987). Science in action: How to follow scientists and engineers through society. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacKenzie, J. M. (1988). The empire of nature. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milam, E. L. (2019). Creatures of Cain: The hunt for human nature in Cold War America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, D. (1967). The naked ape: A zoologist’s study of the human animal. London: Jonathan Cape.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, C. (1982). True to nature. Cambridge: Patrick Stephens.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ritvo, H. (1987). The animal estate: The English and other creatures in the Victorian age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roszak, T. (1969). The making of a counter culture: Reflexions on the technocratic society and its youthful opposition. New York: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinclair, A. (2012). Serengeti story: Life and science in the world’s greatest wildlife region. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, M. (1987). My Serengeti years: The memoirs of an African games warden. London: W. W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Science and Technology Studies, University College London, London, UK

    Jean-Baptiste Gouyon

Authors
  1. Jean-Baptiste Gouyon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean-Baptiste Gouyon .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Gouyon, JB. (2019). Showcasing Science, Showcasing Nature on BBC2. In: BBC Wildlife Documentaries in the Age of Attenborough. Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19982-1_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation