HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT
TRUE TO NATURE
4 X 60’ - SKY NATURE
Following on from the success of Sky Nature’s Shark with Steve Backshall, Steve sets out to reveal that Whales are ‘mightier than myth’.
In this brand-new series, Steve takes us deeper and closer to the most iconic, mysterious and threatened whales and their dolphin cousins. As a naturalist, conservationist and Sky Ocean Hero Ambassador, Steve will free dive alongside whales in the world’s greatest oceans, in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. We’ll meet mighty sperm whales, intelligent caring humpback whales, deadly intelligent killer whales and ingenious bottlenose dolphins, exploring their complex social relationships, revealing their surprising hunting techniques, and discovering that just like us, many whales have close family units.
Teaming up with world-leading scientists and conservationists, Steve will uncover the secret lives of whales and dolphins, and confront the uncomfortable and urgent truths of overfishing and pollution and habitat destruction. Joining whale advocates across the globe, he will discover why whales are essential for the health of our oceans, and what we can do to ensure their survival, and tell the tale of the most remarkable conservation story of all.
DEVELOPMENT PRODUCER
TRUE TO NATURE
5 X 60’ – SKY NATURE AND NETFLIX
In this compelling blue-chip nature series, five apex predators face the ultimate test to survive as their rapidly changing world impacts both their own lives and that of the wild kingdoms over which they rule. Those at the top are now being challenged. Territories are being redrawn and new relationships formed.
In this ever-shifting landscape, each predator must overcome new challenges and grasp new opportunities. For Polar Bears in Canada, Wild Dogs in Zimbabwe, Pumas in Chile, Lions in Botswana, and Cheetahs in Tanzania, this is the ultimate power struggle. The stakes have never been higher - who will win and who will lose?
We follow the stories of these five apex predators at a critical moment in their lives as they attempt to secure the future for the next generation. Grappling with multiple responsibilities these are deadly hunters, caring parents, and cunning survivors who hold secrets and thrilling stories in their quest to survive.
PRODUCER DIRECTOR
WINDFALL FILMS
1 x 60' BBC, NAT GEO & SBS
June 8th 2023. A shark attacks a 23 year-old Russian man swimming just metres from the beach in the Red Sea vacation resort of Hurghada, Egypt. Horrified tourists watch from the shore. His injuries are so severe that he dies before help can arrive. Within hours videos of the attack spread on social media. It comes less than a year after two women were killed by sharks in the space of two days on the same stretch of coast. A spate of killings like this is unprecedented in the Red Sea.
What brought these sharks into the shallow waters of luxury holiday resorts, away from their natural hunting grounds in the open ocean? Could mounting pressure from humans - from fishing, tourism and manmade climate change - be altering how these apex predators live and hunt?
An innovative mix of current-affairs investigation and scientific analysis, this documentary explores what could have caused not just the attacks in the Red Sea, but also other recent and unusual shark encounters around the world, including in the waters off Sydney and Florida.
PRODUCER DIRECTOR
PIONEER PRODUCTIONS
2 x 60' NAT GEO & DISNEY PLUS
Filmed over two and a half years, across Africa and the United States, this series tracks four animal mothers from conception, through their gestation and finally, to birth.
This ground-breaking series combines the latest scanning technology, with photo-real computer animation, to create the most realistic picture ever of life inside the womb – giving us an intimate window on the weeks and months of each baby animal's growth and development.
PRODUCER DIRECTOR
PASSION PLANET
3 x 60' PBS & BBC 4
A visually captivating portrait of freshwater - my episode reveals how this life giving molecule has shaped the history of human civilization, from the rise of agriculture 10’000 years ago to 21st Century technology. Filmed in DRC, Egypt, China, Mexico.
AWARDS
- Winner: Series Award Wildscreen Panda Awards 2020
- Winner: Best Limited Series Long Form Jackson Wild Awards 2020
- Nominated: Environment and Wildlife Rockie Awards 2021
- Nominated: Best Series Internaonal Wildlife Film Fesval 2021
DEVELOPMENT PRODUCER / ASSISTANT PRODUCER / PRODUCER / DIRECTOR
WINDFALL FILMS
14 X 60' CHANNEL 4 & NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (2009 - 2012)
Natural History as you’ve never seen it before… from the inside out.
I came up with and developed this multi-award winning TV event, delving into the anatomy of the largest animals on the planet. Over four years, I produced eight episodes: the whale, the elephant, the big cats, the great white shark, the leatherback turtle, the polar bear, the hippo and the kangaroo.
AWARDS
- Winner: Specialist Factual BAFTA 2010
- Winner: Best Science & Natural History Programme RTS Awards 2010
- Winner: Best Popular Factual Programme Broadcast Awards 2010
- Highly Commended: Best New Programme Broadcast Awards 2010
- Nominated: Best Series Wildscreen Panda Awards 2010
- Nominated: Best Factual Entertainment Programme Broadcasting Press Guild Awards 2010
PRODUCER / DIRECTOR
WINDFALL FILMS & HHMI
3 X 60' PBS & BBC4 (2014)
Meet the family you never knew you had.
In this flagship PBS series based on Neil Shubin's award-winning book, we explored how the anatomy of the human body can be traced back to its prehistoric ancestors. I directed episode two (Your Inner Reptile) and was location producer for episode one, which included filming in the Canadian High Arctic.
Click here to watch a scene from my episode broadcast at the 2015 EMMYs.
AWARDS
- Winner: Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction EMMY 2015
- Nominated: Outstanding Science & Technology Programming EMMY 2015
- Winner: TV/Film Communication Award National Academy of Sciences 2015
- Nominated: Best Limited Series & Best Presenter Jackson Hole Wildlife Festival 2015
- Winner: Best Science Series & Special Jury Prize Wildscreen Panda Awards 2014
- Winner: Best Limited Series Jackson Hole Science Media Awards 2014
PRODUCER / DIRECTOR
PLIMSOLL PRODUCTIONS
1 x 120' NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (2017)
The most ambitious live natural history TV event to date with over 80 cameras filming simultaneously across six continents. As well as playing a key role in shaping the two-hour event, I produced the most technically challenging shoot – coordinating a plane, boat and two drones to film the collection of humpback whale snot live on TV.
Click here for the National Geographic Earth Live website.
Watch a clip of SnotBot in action here.
PRODUCER / DIRECTOR
WINDFALL FILMS
2 x 60' CHANNEL 4 (2013)
I came up with the idea for this multi-platform natural history event, live-streaming hundreds of eggs hatching over the Easter weekend.
From crocodiles to cockroaches, fish to frogs, turtles to termites, sharks to snakes, penguins to preying mantis and spiders to salamanders, 99% of life comes from an egg. Broadcast from a striking, state-of-the-art hatching studio, the programmes were a TV and science first, exploring the new science of embryonic behaviour across the animal kingdom and revealing startling new insights into animal behaviour from the hidden world inside the shell.
AWARDS
- Nominated: Innovation Wildscreen Panda Awards 2014
- Nominated: Best Multiplatform Project Broadcast Digital Award 2014
- Shortlisted: Best Science or Natural History Documentary Grierson Awards 2013
PRODUCER / DIRECTOR
STV PRODUCTIONS
1 x 60' CHANNEL 4 (2018)
With unprecedented access, this beautiful and inspiring one-off special goes behind the scenes at the RZSS Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland to follow the extraordinary efforts to breed two adult polar bears. Keepers at the Park have mated Arktos, the male, with Victoria in the hope that she will have her very own cub. With a strong conservation message throughout, our cameras have spent two years following the successes and failures of the keepers' attempts to get Victoria pregnant and ultimately produce the first polar bear cub to be born on British soil in over 25 years.
Watch a clip of the cub emerging out of the den for the first time here
HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT
TRUE TO NATURE
5 X 22 - CBBC
Following on from the successful second series of ‘One Zoo Three’ on CBBC, and as part of the BBC’s ‘Wilder Britain’ season set to premiere in spring 2023, brothers Cam, Tyler and Aaron set out on a cross country mission to discover how we can help make Britain wonderfully wild again!
From an all new OZT Goes Wild HQ, this 5 x 22-minute factual entertainment series showcases some of the UK’s amazing conservation success stories and reveals how we can all help to restore, re-wild and replenish Britain.
With a studio audience, Cam, Tyler and Aaron are joined by special guests and live animals with fun quizzes and crazy challenges while showing their exciting wildlife encounters from across the UK. Joining conservation projects all around the country they came face to face with blockbusting animals from bears and beavers to sharks and snakes. They got stuck into a mind-boggling bog, were blown away by Britain’s largest bird of prey and encountered our most endangered mammal. Teaming up with conservation champions and helpful heroes working to save our species, they reveal how everyone can do their bit to bring back Britain’s wildlife and help make the world a healthier place for us all.
DEVELOPMENT LEAD
TRUE TO NATURE
5 x 60’ - SKY NATURE
Gangs of Baboon Falls is a five-part wildlife docu-drama, following the fortunes of rival chacma baboon gangs, living in the shadow of the spectacular Victoria Falls in southern Africa. Set within the turbulent months of the dry season, four very different baboon troops compete across ravines, rainforest and rooftops to find food and successfully raise the next generation. Fronted by charismatic leaders and a diverse cast of baboons young and old, the series is both a character driven documentary and a high-stakes drama, featuring tales of romance, rivalries, teenage troubles and family-feuds. A celebration of the natural world, the show’s stunning cinematography captures not only the intimate details of baboon life within their beautiful natural habitats, but also reveals how this intelligent and resourceful species has adapted to survive in the encroaching urban world. Five eventful episodes track the gangs through drought, leadership challenges and territorial disputes, as the baboons raise their young, compete for status and await the arrival of much-needed rainfall. A wildlife soap-opera for all the family, Gangs of Baboon Falls is a thrilling and compelling portrait of chacma baboon life, to be enjoyed by viewers of all ages.
PRODUCER / DIRECTOR
LION TELEVISION
1 x 60' SMITHSONIAN & CHANNEL 5 (2018)
Life at Ngamba Island, Uganda - a sanctuary for rescued chimpanzees where the staff strive to teach these apes how to live like chimps once again. The documentary focused on particular orphan, called Eazy, as well as an experimental use of video cameras as an enrichment tool.
EDIT PRODUCER
WINDFALL FILMS
2 X 60' C5 (2018)
The Secret Life of Owls is a two-part series, commissioned by Lucy Willis for Channel 5 and 5PRIME, which aims to uncover owl family life, as never before. Using stunning natural history footage combined with an intimate view of owls’ private lives inside the nest, this is a wonderful portrait of some of Britain’s most secretive and beautiful birds.
PRODUCER / DIRECTOR
WINDFALL FILMS
4 x 60' CHANNEL 4 & 3 x 30' MORE 4 (2012)
No other wild animal divides public opinion quite like the urban fox, yet we know surprisingly little about them.
'Foxes Live: Wild in the City' launched a multi-platform campaign to educate the nation in an attempt to track and follow foxes across the UK and find out more about this elusive creature. In three live broadcasts from across the country, the project explored whether this mischievous animal deserves its reputation as a devious creature of the night.
AWARDS
- Winner: Best App or Website for a Programme Broadcast Digital Awards 2013
- Nominated: Digital Creativity BAFTA Television Craft Awards 2013
DEVELOPMENT PRODUCER
WINDFALL FILMS
1 x 90' BBC 4 (2017)
I developed the treatment for this successful commission, where Chris Packham and a team of wildlife experts spent an entire year exploring every inch of eight gardens on a suburban street, to answer a fundamental question: How good for wildlife is the great British garden?
DEVELOPMENT PRODUCER
WINDFALL FILMS
1 X 60' BBC NATURAL WORLD (2017)
I developed the treatment for this successful commission, in which David Attenborough tells the revealing story of this Caribbean island's exotic but vulnerable wildlife. A team of conservation champions are making it their mission to save the most precious species, with Puerto Rican parrots, manatees and turtles all now making a comeback.
LOCATION DIRECTOR
WINDFALL FILMS
1 x 60' PBS NOVA & BBC 4 (2016)
This documentary follows the construction of a trailblazing 36,000-tonne steel structure to entomb the ruins of the nuclear power plant destroyed in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Built to last just 30 years, the temporary sarcophagus was crumbling, putting the world at risk of another release of radioactive dust. I filmed the 30th-anniversary events, including interviews with locals who witnessed the disaster.
LOCATION DIRECTOR
WINDFALL FILMS
3 x 60' BBC 4 (2015)
From the historic Royal Institution, space doctor Kevin Fong takes us on a ride from launch to orbit and the cosmos beyond for the annual children's Christmas Lectures. I followed Tim Peake’s launch to the International Space Station, filming and directing the as-live inserts with planetary scientist Monica Grady in Kazakhstan.
LOCATION DIRECTOR
WINDFALL FILMS
1 X 60' DISCOVERY SCIENCE (2016)
'Unearthed' decodes mysteries and combines scientific investigations to reveal the hidden secrets of iconic structures and monuments from around the globe – ancient and present-day. At critical points in each episode, stunning "blow apart" CGI animation deconstructs the structures to reveal hidden anatomy while exploring the secret history of each edifice, immersing us in the age and culture in which they were constructed. I directed the episode at the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza in Mexico.
