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Life on Earth and Beyond: Producing the Wildlife Blockbuster

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BBC Wildlife Documentaries in the Age of Attenborough

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

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Abstract

Life on Earth was a milestone in the production of wildlife television. It opened a new epoch, characterised by the production of large-scale, ambitious series which rested on the creation of a new public figure for wildlife television: the telenaturalist, as embodied in David Attenborough. In turn, the appearance of this new figure rendered the MOD necessary, for it established the claim that the telenaturalist could be trusted to produce objective knowledge of nature in front of the camera for the benefit of the watching public. The model instituted with Life on Earth was perfected with the next two series, The Living Planet (1979) and The Trials of Life (1990).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    John Sparks, ‘Major natural history series’, memo to Editor, NHU [N. Crocker], 8 August 1972, BBCWAC WE17/53/1.

  2. 2.

    John Sparks to Editor NHU [N. Crocker], ‘Major natural history series’, 8 August 1972, BBCWAC WE17/53/1.

  3. 3.

    ‘Programme content of second channel: Summary of statements made up to now’, 19 December 1960, BBCWAC T16/538. Quoted in Boon (2017).

  4. 4.

    Christopher Parsons, ‘“Life on Earth”: Outline proposal for major natural history series’, memo to Controller, BBC-2 [Robin Scott], 24 August 1972, BBCWAC T41/520/1; Anonymous, n.d., ‘Life on Earth. Notes from file on what happened …’, p. 1. BBCWAC WE17/53/1.

  5. 5.

    Christopher Parsons, ‘Life on Earth. Outline proposal…’, p. 2. BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  6. 6.

    Stuart Wyton, ‘Life on Earth’, letter to Robin Scott, 24 August 1972, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  7. 7.

    Christopher Parsons, ‘Life on Earth. Outline proposal…’, p. 2. BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  8. 8.

    Stuart Wyton, personal letter to Robin Scott, 24 August 1972, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  9. 9.

    Interview with author, 25 November 2015.

  10. 10.

    Anonymous, n.d., ‘Life on Earth. Notes from file on what happened …’, p. 1. BBCWAC WE17/53/1.

  11. 11.

    Anonymous [probably M. Rhodes], 16 January 1973, Epic Series—Discussion with David Attenborough, John Sparks, Chris Parsons and Mick Rhodes. BBCWAC WE17/53/1.

  12. 12.

    Anonymous [Mick Rhodes], n.d., ‘Life on Earth, a proposal for a major series from the NHU’, p. 1. BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  13. 13.

    Christopher Parsons, ‘“Life on Earth”—A major natural history series’, memo to Controller BBC-2 [Robin Scott], 4 October 1973, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  14. 14.

    Liz Cowley, ‘Attenborough opens his Jungle Book’, Radio Times, 4 October 1973, pp. 6–7.

  15. 15.

    Richard Brock, 2007, Oral history interview. Wildscreen.

  16. 16.

    Richard Brock, 2007, Oral history interview. Wildscreen.

  17. 17.

    Richard Brock, personal letter to David Attenborough, 6 November 1973, BBCWAC WE8/83/1.

  18. 18.

    Leonard Buckley, ‘Eastward with Attenborough, BBC1’, The Times, 12 October 1973, p. 15.

  19. 19.

    Liz Cowley, ‘Attenborough opens his Jungle Book’, Radio Times, 4 October 1973, pp. 6–7, 6.

  20. 20.

    Christopher Parsons, ‘“Life on Earth”—A major natural history series’, memo to Controller BBC2, 4 October 1973, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  21. 21.

    John Stringer, ‘Life on Earth’, memo to Controller, BBC2, 17 October 1975, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  22. 22.

    Controller-BBC2, ‘Life on Earth’, memo to Director of Programmes, Television, 24 October 1975, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  23. 23.

    Michael Peacock, personal letter to Aubrey Singer, 10 October 1975, p. 1. BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  24. 24.

    Michael Peacock, personal letter to Aubrey Singer, 10 October 1975, p. 1. BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  25. 25.

    Michael Peacock, personal letter to Mick Rhodes, 16 October 1975, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  26. 26.

    Mick Rhodes, ‘Letters from Michael Peacock’, memo to Controller BBC2, 22 October 1975, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  27. 27.

    Mick Rhodes, ‘Letters from Michael Peacock’, memo to Controller BBC2, 22 October 1975, p. 3. BBCWAC T41/520/1 (emphasis in original).

  28. 28.

    Editor, Natural History Unit, ‘Life on Earth: John Sparks’, memo—Staff Private—To Tom Williams, 13 November 1975, BBCWAC WE17/56/1 (original emphasis).

  29. 29.

    Gerry Bloomfield (Manager Programme Services, Bristol), ‘“Life on Earth”—Film crew and editing staff’, memo to All film cameramen & assistant film cameramen, all film recordists and assistant film recordists, all film editors and assistant film editors, 17 February 1976, p. 2. BBCWAC SW3/32/1.

  30. 30.

    Controller BBC2, ‘Life on Earth’, memo to Mick Rhodes, 6 July 1976, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  31. 31.

    Controller BBC2, ‘Life on Earth’, memo to Editor Natural History Unit, 23 August 1976, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  32. 32.

    Michael Peacock, personal letter to Mick Rhodes, 6 October 1976, p. 1. BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  33. 33.

    Anonymous [Mick Rhodes], n.d. [end 1976?], ‘Life on Earth’, p. 1. BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  34. 34.

    Editor, Natural History Unit [Mick Rhodes], ‘Life on Earth’, memo to C BBC2 [A. Singer], 9 September 1976. BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  35. 35.

    Acting Head of Network Production Centre, Bristol [Tom Salmon], ‘Life on Earth’, memo to C. BBC-2, 29 July 1974, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  36. 36.

    Anonymous [Mick Rhodes], n.d. [end 1976?], ‘Life on Earth’, p. 1. BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  37. 37.

    Editor, Natural History Unit, ‘Life on Earth’, memo to C BBC2, 9 September 1976, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  38. 38.

    Anonymous [Mick Rhodes?], n.d. [end 1976?], ‘Life on Earth’, p. 1 (emphasis added). BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  39. 39.

    Aubrey Singer, 1966, ‘Television: Window on culture or reflection in the glass?’, The American Scholar, 35(2), 303–309.

  40. 40.

    Jeffery Boswall, personal letter to Gerald Thompson, 17 February 1967, p. 3. BBCWAC WE13/1,071/1.

  41. 41.

    Anonymous [Mick Rhodes?], n.d., ‘Life on Earth, a proposal for a major series from the NHU’, p. 1. BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  42. 42.

    Editor, Natural History Unit, ‘Life on Earth’, memo to C. BBC2, 21 July 1976, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  43. 43.

    Interview with author, 25 November 2015.

  44. 44.

    Editor, Natural History Unit, ‘Life on Earth’, memo to C. BBC2, 9 September 1976, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  45. 45.

    Editor, Natural History Unit, ‘Progress report: Life on Earth’, memo to C. BBC2, 11 February 1977, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  46. 46.

    Editor, Natural History Unit, ‘Progress report: Life on Earth’, memo to C. BBC2, 11 February 1977, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  47. 47.

    Commentary Life on Earth Episode 1, ‘The infinite variety’ (BBC 1979).

  48. 48.

    The descent down the Grand Canyon was filmed on the way up. For each shot the train of mules had to be turned backwards so that it looked like they were going down (Parsons 1982: 335).

  49. 49.

    Christopher Parsons, ‘Life on Earth’, memo to Controller BBC-2, 2 February 1978, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  50. 50.

    J. Burgess and D. Unwin, 1984, ‘Exploring the living planet with David Attenborough’, Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 8(2), 93–113, 109.

  51. 51.

    Controller BBC-2, ‘Life on Earth’, memo to Mick Rhodes, 31 January 1978, BBCWAC T41/520/1.

  52. 52.

    Senior Producer, General Production Unit [Michael Croucher], ‘Life on Earth special’, memo to Editor NHU, 31 January 1978, BBCWAC WE17/53/1.

  53. 53.

    Editor NHU, ‘The making of Life on Earth’, memo to Derek Anderson, 24 February 1978, BBCWAC WE17/53/1.

  54. 54.

    Michael Croucher and Colin Godman, ‘The making of Life on Earth’, memo to Mick Rhodes, 2 May 1978, pp. 7–8. BBCWAC WE17/53/1.

  55. 55.

    Anonymous, ‘The making of Life on Earth’, BBCWAC WE17/53/1.

  56. 56.

    Anonymous, ‘The making of Life on Earth’, p. 1. BBCWAC WE17/53/1.

  57. 57.

    Michael Croucher and Colin Godman, ‘The making of Life on Earth’, memo to Mick Rhodes, 2 May 1978, p. 4. BBCWAC WE17/53/1.

  58. 58.

    Michael Croucher and Colin Godman, ‘The making of Life on Earth’, memo to Mick Rhodes, 2 May 1978, p. 7. BBCWAC WE17/53/1.

  59. 59.

    Colin Godman, ‘David Attenborough—“The making of Life on Earth”’, memo to Con. & Fin. Ex., 9 May 1978, BBCWAC WE13/10/1.

  60. 60.

    Anonymous, n.d., ‘Life on Earth. Promotion’, p. 2. BBCWAC WE17/57/1.

  61. 61.

    Michael Croucher and Colin Godman, ‘The making of Life on Earth’, memo to Mick Rhodes, 2 May 1978, p. 6. BBCWAC WE17/53/1.

  62. 62.

    Anonymous, n.d., ‘Life on Earth: Minutes of promotion meeting held on Monday, June 5th 1978’, p. 2. BBCWAC WE17/57/1.

  63. 63.

    WildTrack, with Tony Soper, BBC1, 2 March 1979.

  64. 64.

    Michael Croucher and Colin Godman, ‘The making of Life on Earth’, memo to Mick Rhodes, 2 May 1978, p. 7. BBCWAC WE17/53/1.

  65. 65.

    Life on Air, talk at the BFI (London), 4 November 2015.

  66. 66.

    John Sparks, Oral history interview, 11 July 2008, Wildscreen.

  67. 67.

    Editor, Natural History Unit, ‘Life on Earth Press launch’, memo to J. Sparks, M. Salisbury, R. Brock, N. Cleminson, 19 October 1978, BBCWAC WE17/57/1.

  68. 68.

    Judy Copeland, ‘Life on Earth’, memo to Chris Parsons, 1 October 1979, BBCWAC WE17/57/1 (original emphasis).

  69. 69.

    Christopher Parsons, reply to F. A. Lipscombe, Radio Times, ‘Letters’, 10–16 February 1979, p. 61.

  70. 70.

    J. Burgess and D. Unwin, 1984, ‘Exploring the living planet with David Attenborough’, Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 8(2), 93–113, 103.

  71. 71.

    N. Wapshott, 1980, ‘The perfect teacher, back with the animals’, The Times, 1 March 1980, p. 14.

  72. 72.

    Wapshott, 1980.

  73. 73.

    Desmond Hawkins, 1962, ‘The BBC Natural History Unit. Report by the head of West Regional Programmes’, p. 7. BBCWAC R13/462/1.

  74. 74.

    The Making of the Living Planet (BBC 1984).

  75. 75.

    Peter Jones, interview with author, September 2016. Unless mentioned otherwise, quotes thereafter are from this interview.

  76. 76.

    Among Jones’s notable natural history Horizon films are The Selfish Gene (BBC 1976); The Human Animal (BBC 1977); The Red Deer of Rhum (BBC 1978).

  77. 77.

    Peter Jones, personal communication.

  78. 78.

    Peter Jones, interview with author, 29 June 2015. Jones added in further exchanges: ‘We also financially compensated researchers when they took time off their own work to be fully committed to assisting The Trials of Life team - an agreeable daily rate that was fair if not all that generous!’ (personal communication to author).

  79. 79.

    Producer: Michael Gunton; Executive Producer: Peter Jones.

  80. 80.

    Interview with Peter Jones, 1 December 2014.

  81. 81.

    Once More into the Termite Mound (BBC 1990).

  82. 82.

    The telenaturalist is similar to Andrew Tudor’s ‘telexpert’ (Tudor 1981).

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

    Jean-Baptiste Gouyon

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Gouyon, JB. (2019). Life on Earth and Beyond: Producing the Wildlife Blockbuster. 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_9

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