Bellamy's Backyard Safari - with Martin Williams
Who Moved the Tortoise?May 03, 2024x
2
42:2061.75 MB

Bellamy's Backyard Safari - with Martin Williams

Four-time Emmy Winner and Talesmith founder Martin Williams talks about the 1981 series that ignited his passion for science filmmaking, Bellamy's Backyard Safari. Pull on your impossibly tight shorts, strap on your fake beard (real ones also permitted) and join us for a nostalgic chat about Britain's other wildlife legend called David.

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[00:00:01] A mindless, wittering production.

[00:00:12] All I knew was I wanted to try and understand the way the world works, the natural world.

[00:00:19] We explore because of the idea of money.

[00:00:24] Science is the storytelling of our time.

[00:00:27] So me storytelling has always been the way to leave sorrow.

[00:00:32] Hello and welcome to Who Moved the Tortoise, a podcast about science and wildlife filmmaking.

[00:00:41] I'm Alex Hemingway.

[00:00:43] And I'm Kate Dooley.

[00:00:45] And as usual we're joined by someone from the world of science or wildlife television

[00:00:48] to talk about the film or TV show or other stuff that inspired them.

[00:00:52] This time we're going to be talking to four-time Emmy winning filmmaker Martin Williams.

[00:00:57] Martin's earliest foray into the creative arts was playing mankind

[00:01:00] in a school production of Castle of Perseverance.

[00:01:04] And in many ways it's been downhill all the way since.

[00:01:07] His early TV career included Stints as a runner on the Pepsi Chart show

[00:01:11] and as a production assistant on popular Channel 4 daytime show Pet Rescue.

[00:01:15] Since then Martin has directed major global figures including President Zelensky, Prince William and Professor Stephen Hawking.

[00:01:22] He's been the driving force behind some of Sir David Attenborough's most recent work

[00:01:25] including his multi-award winning 3D, VR and AR projects.

[00:01:30] And in 2014 he founded his own production company, Tailsmith

[00:01:35] which specializes in natural history, science and environmental filmmaking

[00:01:39] where he currently is co-producing with Titanic and Avatar legend James Cameron.

[00:01:44] Martin's choice for the film or series that inspired him

[00:01:47] is the 1981 BBC series Bellamy's Backyard Safari.

[00:01:52] You don't have to go to the ends of the earth to learn about the wonders of nature.

[00:02:05] Your personal school of evolution is right in your own backyard.

[00:02:10] First question Martin, is how hard a decision was it to pick something as your inspiration?

[00:02:16] Quite, yeah quite hard I think. I mean there was a lot of stuff out there.

[00:02:19] I remember in the 80s you know it was very much about Tuesday and Thursday nights.

[00:02:23] There was Top of the Pops and there was Tomorrow's World, the sort of appointment to view programs

[00:02:29] and I would always watch those. But in terms of science and television and natural history

[00:02:33] I mean David Attenborough captured the imagination but back then David Bellamy for me was

[00:02:39] he was on a par with Sir David in terms of the quality of the output

[00:02:43] and his passion for the natural world was up there

[00:02:46] and there was something about his style that was just pretty engaging

[00:02:48] and I think actually when you guys asked me to think of what the program was that inspired me

[00:02:54] I couldn't remember the name of it. I just remember seeing David Bellamy shrunk down to this honey eye shrunk the kid's size

[00:03:02] wandering around in his garden and making garden wildlife really exciting

[00:03:08] and I'd never seen anything like that before because it seemed like you could get into a world that you just hadn't seen before

[00:03:14] and so it was exciting.

[00:03:15] So through the wonders of the BBC Genome website we can dig in and find the actual Radio Times entry for when it was broadcast

[00:03:23] and it was a Thursday. It was Thursday the 9th of July 1981, 10 to 7 in the evening on BBC One.

[00:03:30] Who is the Martin of July 81? How old are you? Where are you? Who are you watching it with?

[00:03:35] Wow yes I'd have been seven years old. I guess I watched it with my brother.

[00:03:39] I don't know I did everything with my brother back then you know we were very close

[00:03:42] he's two and a half years older than me and you know my parents would just sort of let us go in the garden

[00:03:49] out beyond the house. We lived in Wembury which is a village just outside Plymouth on the coast.

[00:03:55] Amazing place to live you know we could walk down to the beach, we went down on our bikes really steep hill

[00:04:00] I remember going down there and always thinking how am I going to climb up here

[00:04:04] but we were going explore the beach look under rocks go swimming snorkeling make dens

[00:04:09] and yeah it was an idyllic childhood. At this point do you already have a love of the natural world, a curiosity of nature?

[00:04:17] Yeah that's in there. It was the science of the natural world that always captivated me.

[00:04:22] I think you get some natural history filmmakers who just love animals

[00:04:26] whereas for me it was always about how does all this work. I liked anything sciencey really

[00:04:31] I was fascinated with how does the human body work and things like that

[00:04:33] and so for me nature was the same it was like how did it all fit together.

[00:04:38] I love snorkeling, I loved looking under rocks and seeing what was behind that clump of seaweed

[00:04:43] and getting down deep and so the sea at that point was really fascinating for me

[00:04:47] and I had this idea about being a marine biologist. I mean the natural history shows that I saw

[00:04:52] I never really considered being a filmmaker actually because I didn't think it was a real job

[00:04:56] I thought you had to, my dad was a doctor and I thought well I'll be a doctor as well

[00:04:59] I like science and I like, I'm interested in the human body

[00:05:03] and that was kind of my focus all the way through school and everything actually.

[00:05:06] I didn't consider making films as a real job

[00:05:10] I just thought it was something other people did and then it was a university

[00:05:14] and I thought oh actually maybe this is something I could do

[00:05:17] clearly I didn't get the place at med school so that had something to do with it.

[00:05:21] Well I did actually but I felt one grade short in chemistry and I could have retaken it

[00:05:26] but I didn't, I thought I'd do something else.

[00:05:29] So where did the filmmaking switch then? How did that come about?

[00:05:32] I mean at school there was a video club and we got to play with the camera

[00:05:37] and back then it's just you know you get other kids, you sit them down

[00:05:40] you kind of interview them and you mess around and see what the shots look like

[00:05:43] and I remember doing that and there was one, I just kind of got the camera wrong

[00:05:47] and what I was doing with the camera I got wrong and I kind of zoomed in on somebody's hands

[00:05:51] and the teacher looked over my shoulder and said what are you doing there

[00:05:53] and I thought I'm in trouble and he said that's really good, that's called a cutaway

[00:05:56] because he thought oh right is it okay that's good and so I started to realise that there was a

[00:06:03] you know this was something I enjoyed, it was creative, it was fun but it was a hobby.

[00:06:06] And how did you feel watching the show back now? What struck you as did you kind of

[00:06:12] transport you back to a boy or did you also have now I make TV I can actually see all the hooks

[00:06:18] that they put in here for kids?

[00:06:20] A bit of both, I think there was a kind of a very kind of straight way of making television

[00:06:23] back then where you just had a presenter and they told you kind of interesting facts

[00:06:27] and that was kind of enough, I was really struck by how quickly David Bellamy talked

[00:06:31] so there's this and there's that and look at the earthworm with its segments and they're full of this

[00:06:35] and it's like whoa slow down take your time but it's very much about delivering interesting facts

[00:06:40] which TV has moved on so much since then you just never, you wouldn't do that anymore

[00:06:45] we're so focused on emotion and storytelling and the facts are vital

[00:06:49] but they're smuggled in through in other ways you know you don't start with the fact anymore

[00:06:54] but also you watch something like that and you think the clothes David was wearing was a pretty

[00:06:59] it's effectively wearing a pair of hot pants

[00:07:02] he's not Kylie Minogue is he?

[00:07:05] No he's not, he's not, it's pretty unsettling watching it talk about that

[00:07:09] particularly when he's sort of roving around in slug slide

[00:07:13] What?

[00:07:15] The gut myself is absolutely disgusting

[00:07:22] and I think the culprit's over there

[00:07:25] a slug going about it's all the garden business

[00:07:28] smashing things aren't they, the way they glide about so smoothly

[00:07:32] and this is what allows them to do it

[00:07:35] I wondered if there's a bigger point there about him actually which is

[00:07:38] and I think this is massively to his credit

[00:07:40] he doesn't seem to be someone who really cares what anyone thinks

[00:07:43] he's happy to throw himself into any situation

[00:07:47] I was watching it thinking I could imagine presenters nowadays being well I'm not doing that

[00:07:51] but there is such an almost childish joy about the way he approaches his work

[00:07:56] that you can't fail to be swept along by it

[00:07:59] and I think that's his secret

[00:08:02] I mean you say that about modern presenters

[00:08:05] but we also live in a much more tolerant world now don't we in terms of

[00:08:08] neurodiversity and so on

[00:08:09] we have a kind of an absolute passion

[00:08:12] celebrated now in a big way

[00:08:15] but I totally agree I mean I think he clearly just had a real passion for what he did

[00:08:19] and was keen to share that passion

[00:08:22] a crazy academic who got to make TV shows

[00:08:25] he was as inspiring as David Attenborough

[00:08:28] Now I've got four major loves in my life

[00:08:31] children, plants, the bay and all microscopes

[00:08:34] which comes first well it depends on how the kids have been behaving themselves

[00:08:37] but I have in my love of all microscopes for me dad

[00:08:41] and I can't really remember a time in our house

[00:08:44] when there wasn't a microscope

[00:08:46] and if I was very good on Saturday evening well dad would get out the microscope

[00:08:50] and allow me to see into a world of minutiae that envelops us all the time

[00:08:54] but few of us ever see

[00:08:57] What we do now is sort of take that chance to look at another world

[00:09:02] and put it into our TV programs

[00:09:04] and it's been inspired by that kind of show

[00:09:07] and I've seen on Safari was the first time I'd ever seen

[00:09:10] the ability to get down on a level with animals of that size

[00:09:13] and plants of that size

[00:09:15] and feel like you're in a jungle

[00:09:17] as a six or seven year old boy who was just love getting outside

[00:09:21] the idea that you could go on Safari in your garden was endlessly inspiring

[00:09:26] and it's available to everyone isn't it

[00:09:29] everyone can do it

[00:09:31] that's what he says at the end of the program

[00:09:33] like now you can go and discover it yourself

[00:09:35] because wherever you live

[00:09:37] you're soaked under

[00:09:39] that's what's magical about it is it makes you want to run outside immediately

[00:09:42] after watching the show doesn't it and have a look yourself

[00:09:44] and it's not just the cute birds and the fluffy rabbits

[00:09:47] it's the vicious fungus that hunts nematodes

[00:09:51] These fungi are highly efficient predators

[00:09:55] and each ring is a trap

[00:09:57] just look at the strength of the constriction

[00:10:06] the fungus holds the worm fast

[00:10:08] and then comes the really sinister bit

[00:10:13] fungus just grows into the animals body

[00:10:19] and digest it from the inside out

[00:10:24] I don't think I'd ever seen that before

[00:10:26] I was completely amazed by that

[00:10:28] there's actually a lot of microscopy on screen in this film as well isn't there

[00:10:32] which is perhaps something we wouldn't do in quite the same way nowadays

[00:10:35] and I think we've had lots of movie projects

[00:10:37] and the recent Disney show Bugs Life

[00:10:41] are all sort of inspired by that as the original one

[00:10:45] the original series that took you down to that microscopic level

[00:10:49] and actually what was fascinating for me was

[00:10:52] looking back at that thinking well yeah you can tell where there's

[00:10:55] a bit of green screen going on maybe in David Bellamy's world

[00:10:59] but some of the kind of storytelling is still exciting and well done

[00:11:03] It is a perfect kids show

[00:11:04] in that you've got someone who's incredibly passionate

[00:11:08] and in a really innocent way in his short shorts admittedly

[00:11:11] but in a really innocent way

[00:11:13] and then you've got the goo and the baddies

[00:11:15] you've got all these things in there that are classic kids tropes

[00:11:18] that you know kids love that kind of stuff

[00:11:20] and he runs away from predators

[00:11:22] so how exciting is that?

[00:11:24] it was a spider that tries to eat it

[00:11:26] I thought if I watched that as a kid I would be genuinely scared

[00:11:28] they don't go all out on the Hollywood visual effects

[00:11:31] but still you feel like you're in that world

[00:11:32] and that's certainly something that as a filmmaker you learn to do that

[00:11:36] what are the three or four things I can do

[00:11:38] that make the audience feel like they're in that world for as long as possible

[00:11:41] and you sew them through the show with your budget in mind

[00:11:44] and if you get it right it works

[00:11:46] and the audience feel like they're there

[00:11:48] and that's what that show did

[00:11:50] today if you made it you might do a lot more shots

[00:11:52] but actually they're being clever

[00:11:54] you can make the shots last can't you

[00:11:56] you can have him running for quite a while

[00:11:58] and he's telling you information while he's doing it

[00:12:00] and you don't need to cut that up any more actually

[00:12:02] yeah and it's you're still imagining the spider behind him

[00:12:05] you don't need to see the spider you sort of think it's there

[00:12:07] your imagination is doing the rest

[00:12:09] even though it's a kid show I don't feel he's ever talking down to the audience

[00:12:12] it doesn't feel like that the language has been moderated

[00:12:15] particularly down to be more child friendly

[00:12:17] it's like saying here it all is

[00:12:19] you just absorb this and enjoy it

[00:12:21] and do with this information what you will

[00:12:23] there's a confidence in the filmmaker there

[00:12:25] that the audience are going to sit there and watch the whole thing

[00:12:27] the effects and the kind of concept were so kind of new and exciting

[00:12:30] but also I don't know what the alternative is

[00:12:32] the alternative was for kids you know

[00:12:35] they're watching that program or they don't watch television

[00:12:37] I think now we are so aware of that

[00:12:40] that everything we do when making our films

[00:12:43] is geared towards creating an emotional arc

[00:12:46] and giving the viewer time to breathe and absorb that fact

[00:12:49] with a kind of hit of something exciting to watch in between

[00:12:52] and you know I just think it's a way that filmmaking has evolved

[00:12:55] that I think I don't think the audience would stick with it

[00:12:57] I think you can have that delivery much more confidently on YouTube now

[00:12:59] rather than having it on TV

[00:13:01] every word in your script is in service of the story today

[00:13:04] generally when we write scripts

[00:13:06] you don't throw anything away

[00:13:08] it's interesting what you say about YouTube there actually

[00:13:10] you know my kids watch a lot of YouTube

[00:13:12] I try to stop them watching too much

[00:13:14] but it's interesting the stuff that they watch

[00:13:16] is quite Bellamy-esque in its style you're right

[00:13:18] there's no pausing for they just talking

[00:13:21] you know 10 to a dozen and really you can watch that

[00:13:23] and it's like where's the craft in that

[00:13:25] but you're right that is the Bellamy style is alive and well

[00:13:27] shall we talk more about David Bellamy himself

[00:13:30] and how he got to be where he got to

[00:13:32] he was an academic in his own right

[00:13:34] he was Dr Bellamy

[00:13:36] 1967 massive oil spill disaster of the Tory Canyon

[00:13:39] all of a sudden

[00:13:41] the large stretch of coast was going to be changed

[00:13:44] this balance if a balance exists was going to be wiped out

[00:13:48] he was brought in as an environmental consultant

[00:13:51] on that by the government

[00:13:53] and wrote a scientific paper

[00:13:55] which was published in Nature

[00:13:57] and this was what originally brought him to public prominence

[00:14:00] and were it not for that event

[00:14:03] he may never then have risen to the prominence that we now know

[00:14:06] so of course they had to find some poor scientific idiot

[00:14:09] to be dragged screaming through his ivory town on to the box

[00:14:13] my was it

[00:14:15] my assumption was when you watch him

[00:14:17] and you get a sense of the man that

[00:14:19] he was always kind of born to be this slightly outlandish

[00:14:21] expressive presenter

[00:14:23] but actually his way into public prominence

[00:14:25] was through something very academic

[00:14:27] it's not funny though that his career in television started

[00:14:30] with an environmental disaster

[00:14:32] and actually his views on climate change were

[00:14:35] he says that that's what killed off his career

[00:14:38] wasn't it his climate denier stance

[00:14:41] and the politics I think

[00:14:43] because he ran to be an MP

[00:14:45] and didn't get through

[00:14:47] but because he was kind of giving his political views across

[00:14:49] which the BBC said well we can't have you as a presenter

[00:14:51] if you display your political views like this

[00:14:53] so I don't know how much was which

[00:14:55] for a long long time

[00:14:57] and I think that's what's important for the other side of that argument

[00:14:59] so it wasn't that he was ambivalent

[00:15:01] or kind of hiding that

[00:15:03] it was a full 180 at some point

[00:15:05] what he believed climate change didn't

[00:15:07] wasn't happening

[00:15:09] yeah he just didn't think it was true

[00:15:11] he thought it was poppycock as the kind of you know word he would use

[00:15:13] rewinding to his heyday

[00:15:15] which is the 80s

[00:15:17] and thank you for bringing it in

[00:15:19] because it was hugely nostalgic for me

[00:15:21] I mean he kind of was my childhood

[00:15:23] and I think you've already mentioned

[00:15:25] that he was huge

[00:15:27] in my head he was as big as

[00:15:29] or if not bigger than Attenborough

[00:15:31] for a time and during this period

[00:15:33] I think it's not possible to kind of overstate

[00:15:35] how huge he was for quite a while

[00:15:37] and he was universally famous

[00:15:39] you know everybody

[00:15:41] every child in the playground could do a David

[00:15:43] that would mean impression

[00:15:45] I'm just going to refer back to something you said earlier

[00:15:47] you were saying we wouldn't really do it like this anymore

[00:15:49] unless you had someone as sort of similarly expressive

[00:15:51] and passionate as him

[00:15:53] do you lament that we don't do things that way anymore

[00:15:55] yes because like you said that was my childhood

[00:15:59] there's nostalgia attached to that

[00:16:01] I quite like that just sort of presenter tells you some stuff

[00:16:04] we've gone so far down the line

[00:16:06] of being subsist by story

[00:16:08] and baking entertainment into what we do

[00:16:10] there's a fashionable way of making films

[00:16:13] like in lots of genres

[00:16:15] I think in filmmaking

[00:16:17] we've gone down that path

[00:16:19] I think the streamers now

[00:16:21] as well added in this extra competition

[00:16:23] so we're really obsessed with

[00:16:25] catchy titles and things

[00:16:28] and I think inevitably a presenter talking about something

[00:16:30] is quite simple

[00:16:32] it's quite clean

[00:16:34] you've got to like that person

[00:16:36] you've got to like what they're talking about

[00:16:38] but you know I think as an industry

[00:16:40] we're in this difficult period at the moment

[00:16:42] where specialist subjects on television

[00:16:44] specialist factual

[00:16:46] and science is struggling

[00:16:48] unless you can create entertainment out of it

[00:16:50] so that you're getting the numbers up

[00:16:52] getting the viewers up

[00:16:53] and you're going to get the shame

[00:16:55] specifically on the decline of presenter led stuff

[00:16:58] what explains that

[00:17:00] I mean is it as simple as

[00:17:02] because you have to sell stuff globally now

[00:17:04] to make it work financially

[00:17:06] that unless your presenter is globally known

[00:17:09] and is a universal name

[00:17:11] it's just not going to work anymore

[00:17:13] but there's practical hurdles as well

[00:17:16] so if it's a local

[00:17:18] if it's a British presenter

[00:17:20] who's not known in America

[00:17:21] that's one thing

[00:17:23] but the fact they're speaking English also means that

[00:17:25] it's hard for that series to be sold in other territories

[00:17:29] so it does make it necessarily

[00:17:32] more difficult

[00:17:34] so finding universal subjects

[00:17:36] is always going to

[00:17:38] those shows are always going to sell better around the world

[00:17:40] so we're talking like dinosaurs

[00:17:42] sharks

[00:17:44] there are a certain subjects

[00:17:46] Nazis that always get shows made on them

[00:17:48] because they're universally everyone

[00:17:49] who's on the screen doesn't know

[00:17:51] I think presenters now

[00:17:53] they have to be more like Bellamy actually

[00:17:55] because they have to have an expertise

[00:17:57] you can't have just anybody presenting anymore

[00:17:59] unless it's an entertainment show

[00:18:01] BBC4 championed that for a while

[00:18:03] but even BBC4's struggling now isn't it

[00:18:05] I mean they were some of my favourite jobs I've ever done

[00:18:07] where BBC4 presenter led hours

[00:18:09] with a miniscule budget

[00:18:11] but with a licence to go on a fun adventure

[00:18:13] and tell a story

[00:18:15] so a huge creative budget

[00:18:17] and you've got to be creative

[00:18:19] and you think differently

[00:18:21] and film interesting visuals that aren't obvious

[00:18:23] that's what the Bellamy show is all about as well

[00:18:25] sort of finding those interesting visuals

[00:18:27] in the macro

[00:18:29] and just a different view on the world

[00:18:31] I love the macro and the micro photography

[00:18:33] that they showed

[00:18:35] I love just being able to watch it play out

[00:18:37] because it's just fascinating

[00:18:39] you're just like the Victorians

[00:18:41] love looking through their microscopes

[00:18:43] Bellamy love looking through his dads

[00:18:45] my daughters grandma brought her yesterday

[00:18:47] a little bug collecting kit

[00:18:49] and the rest of yesterday afternoon

[00:18:51] looking at everything through a magnifying glass

[00:18:53] rice krispies, hues, hair

[00:18:56] you name it

[00:18:58] but and the reason I bring that up

[00:19:00] is that it's endlessly fascinating

[00:19:02] and she's being raised in a world of iPads

[00:19:04] and YouTube and TikTok and all that kind of stuff

[00:19:06] but put a magnifying glass in your hand

[00:19:08] or a microscope

[00:19:10] and you're going to see amazing things

[00:19:12] that are inspirational

[00:19:14] and mind-boggling

[00:19:16] that says to me that you are a good parent

[00:19:17] ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

[00:19:19] take for a mix

[00:19:21] with your company owner

[00:19:23] production company

[00:19:25] exec producer hat on

[00:19:27] how would you approach that kind of show

[00:19:29] today what would it look like

[00:19:31] Disney have just done it

[00:19:33] I think the real bugs life is it

[00:19:35] and what I love about that series is the

[00:19:37] it's drama and natural history together

[00:19:39] you can't ever obviously

[00:19:41] follow a single bug in its life

[00:19:43] throughout its life

[00:19:45] but actually what that series does

[00:19:47] that's more what I like

[00:19:49] rather than the

[00:19:51] fully animated, dramatized script version

[00:19:53] you know one that actually is rooted in

[00:19:55] what really happens

[00:19:57] I mean I was lucky enough to make a couple of shows

[00:19:59] that dealt in the macro world

[00:20:01] so Kingdom of Plants

[00:20:03] we filmed some bugs but we got down to that level

[00:20:05] and it was also the magical world of

[00:20:07] seeing behind the plant time scale

[00:20:09] when you speed the world up

[00:20:11] so you can see how plants actually live their lives

[00:20:13] and sort of start to see their behaviour

[00:20:15] a similar sort of thing

[00:20:17] and that is again I think inspired by that

[00:20:20] initial experience of seeing the macro world

[00:20:22] on television

[00:20:24] you have a chance to play with that idea yourself

[00:20:26] and real sort of privilege to do that

[00:20:28] it's macro is one area of the industry

[00:20:30] that I think that advances in technology

[00:20:32] are really what's opened up

[00:20:34] the ability to kind of make these amazing films

[00:20:36] this film that we watched is 40 years old

[00:20:38] but you couldn't have made a Kingdom of Plants

[00:20:40] or a real bugs life in the early 80s

[00:20:43] and I think we're lucky

[00:20:45] despite obviously the state of the industry

[00:20:47] we're going to be able to use the technology

[00:20:49] and the technology that we use to detect

[00:20:51] now that we can use to kind of unlock that world

[00:20:53] and I think in terms of where it's going

[00:20:55] I think you know this sort of explosion

[00:20:57] of immersive experiences

[00:20:59] where you go into a room and there's screens

[00:21:01] all around you or using VR headsets

[00:21:03] or AR to take an audience into that world

[00:21:05] in an immersive way

[00:21:07] I think would be even more incredible

[00:21:09] and actually bring some haptics into that

[00:21:11] so you can actually maybe touch something

[00:21:13] that feels like an earthworm

[00:21:15] while you're looking at a virtual earthworm

[00:21:17] and the impression of this series

[00:21:19] is in a huge immersive space

[00:21:21] like Lightroom at King's Cross

[00:21:23] we, the punters are the ones that are shrunk down

[00:21:25] and we walk into that giant world

[00:21:27] that's quite exciting isn't it?

[00:21:29] Yeah I think it would be brilliant

[00:21:31] it will just give you a chance to feel

[00:21:33] what it's like to be chased by a spider

[00:21:35] that's the size of a bus

[00:21:37] if you think about all of the experiences

[00:21:39] of being shrunk down

[00:21:41] so the visuals you can inject perfumes

[00:21:43] into the room so that it smells a certain way

[00:21:45] interactive touch modules

[00:21:47] and sound now

[00:21:49] the technology that we've got now

[00:21:51] with these immersive spaces

[00:21:53] the projection quality is so good

[00:21:55] these LED walls are really crisp

[00:21:57] and really clean

[00:21:59] but then also these very localised sound showers

[00:22:01] so you can be standing in a particular place

[00:22:03] and the sound is very different

[00:22:05] from standing a metre away

[00:22:07] so you can actually really localise the sound

[00:22:09] and put the viewer into that space

[00:22:11] in a really effective way

[00:22:13] Amazing, I mean sign me up

[00:22:15] I'll buy my tickets today

[00:22:17] I want to highlight that making films

[00:22:19] about the natural world is inevitably expensive though isn't it?

[00:22:22] That's the barrier isn't it?

[00:22:24] We talk about all this amazing tech

[00:22:26] and all these opportunities

[00:22:28] but it's expensive filmmaking

[00:22:30] Yeah it is expensive

[00:22:32] I think adding a presenter makes it cheaper

[00:22:34] but yeah it has to be it's expensive

[00:22:36] I think it's hard to

[00:22:38] it's hard to make these shows without spending

[00:22:40] a bit of time and budget on making it look good

[00:22:42] and waiting for the animals to behave

[00:22:44] in the way you need them to behave

[00:22:45] and we're always trying to find ways around

[00:22:47] that reality of just spending time in the field

[00:22:49] but it's hard

[00:22:51] but the macro world is a bit more controllable

[00:22:53] than going out necessarily into the

[00:22:55] Serengeti or something and waiting for

[00:22:57] a panther of lions to hunt

[00:22:59] Yeah we can do quite a lot in the studio space

[00:23:02] which is still expensive comparatively speaking

[00:23:05] but at least you've got a bit of control

[00:23:07] I mean we made quite pragmatic decisions

[00:23:09] on gladiators didn't we

[00:23:11] and that was partly to do with what can we control

[00:23:12] Shall we try and introduce a macro scene

[00:23:15] in every film of the series

[00:23:17] to at least give us an element of predictability

[00:23:20] So tell us about that series for people who don't know about it

[00:23:23] Gladiators is a series that we've made

[00:23:25] where Alex was our showrunner on the series

[00:23:27] we made it to El Smith

[00:23:29] we've got the greatest rivalries in the animal kingdom

[00:23:31] made for love nature and for sky

[00:23:33] it's going to be on sky in December I believe

[00:23:35] it's already airing on love nature

[00:23:37] but it's a series about those incredible battles

[00:23:39] between species and within species as well

[00:23:42] we had a scene with a lion pride

[00:23:45] attacking some elephants and preying on termites

[00:23:48] and so there's an array of animals

[00:23:50] that are naturally engaged in disputes

[00:23:53] and it's often over a resource like a water hole or something

[00:23:56] the animals come in and they're concentrated in there

[00:23:59] and then these sort of rivalries

[00:24:01] and these conflicts develop

[00:24:03] and so to make that series within a year

[00:24:06] which is any sane natural history filmmaker

[00:24:09] would tell you that isn't possible

[00:24:10] because you need for complex behaviors like that

[00:24:13] you go and film it once and then inevitably you miss stuff

[00:24:16] and so you go back again the next year

[00:24:18] the next season when it happens again

[00:24:20] and you shoot it again and sometimes even a third season

[00:24:22] to really fill in the gaps

[00:24:24] and by then you've been able to tell the story

[00:24:26] and capture the baby

[00:24:28] so we didn't have that luxury

[00:24:30] we knew we had to do this within a year

[00:24:32] which made choosing the stories

[00:24:34] it was a kind of very complex Venn diagram

[00:24:36] of what's a cool story

[00:24:38] when can we film it

[00:24:40] and how do we afford to film it and will it happen?

[00:24:42] with also that backdrop of knowing that every story

[00:24:44] was a one-shot deal

[00:24:46] once we were committed to it

[00:24:48] we would go and we would do it

[00:24:50] and it would either happen or it wouldn't

[00:24:52] so it became quite a delicate balancing act of

[00:24:54] you know you want the big, mighty giants

[00:24:56] of the savannah

[00:24:58] or whatever your equivalent environment is

[00:25:00] but you know that they're the ones

[00:25:02] that you have absolutely no ability to control

[00:25:04] you are as a film crew

[00:25:06] you're an entirely passive observer

[00:25:08] at the mercy of the weather

[00:25:10] and the lack of myriad conditions

[00:25:12] so part of the challenge was trying to then find stuff

[00:25:15] that we could have a bit more control over

[00:25:17] whilst also retaining scientific accuracy

[00:25:20] and all of that side of it as well

[00:25:22] you know what you can't do is create scenarios

[00:25:24] so we were always trying to create

[00:25:26] the right conditions for behaviour to happen

[00:25:29] but for behaviour to happen naturally

[00:25:31] so that's how we ended up with a mixture of the very big

[00:25:33] and the very small and everything in between

[00:25:35] and actually I think that's one thing that's really nice about it

[00:25:37] is that huge variation in scale

[00:25:38] yeah definitely there's an element of bellamy in that

[00:25:41] you know it's like being able to see these battles playing out

[00:25:44] we think of the big animals in conflict

[00:25:46] but you know they go on a microscopic level

[00:25:48] and actually they're kind of vicious aren't they

[00:25:51] we had a bullet ant which is a very fierce predator

[00:25:54] at the microscopic level in Australia

[00:25:56] wanders into Redback's web

[00:25:58] and so you've got these two fierce carnivores

[00:26:01] trying to eat each other effectively

[00:26:03] and you know the redback is casting at silk

[00:26:05] the bullet ant is trying to bite or sting the spider

[00:26:09] and it's dark it's kind of hobbit-esque in the way

[00:26:12] it's well partly in the way Alex made it all happen

[00:26:14] it looks like that you know it's beautifully done

[00:26:16] but it's quite brutal and it's quite thrilling

[00:26:18] and when you're on their level

[00:26:20] that's the joy of the macro photography

[00:26:22] when you're on their level you are in there

[00:26:24] you are in that story aren't you

[00:26:26] totally yeah can't see that in any other way

[00:26:28] so it's cool

[00:26:30] and it's always fun temporarily breaking the spell

[00:26:32] and cutting to a wide shot that reveals that this entire

[00:26:33] arena of battle is just a tiny little rotten log

[00:26:36] in a little corner of a forest somewhere

[00:26:38] but that's amazing because like this is happening everywhere

[00:26:41] like it's again back to that Bellamy

[00:26:43] and you pick up a stone what do you find

[00:26:45] you find something that has a life

[00:26:47] it's just trying to live and it's a dog eat dog world out there

[00:26:50] you know or a spider eat ant world out there

[00:26:52] I don't know how it ended up

[00:26:54] who won the battle

[00:26:56] the spider won

[00:26:58] is that surprising I don't know

[00:27:00] this is another element of another challenge of wildlife

[00:27:01] storytelling isn't it

[00:27:03] is that quite often the outcome often is very obvious

[00:27:05] and very predictable

[00:27:07] part of the trick is telling the story in a way

[00:27:09] that leads you down the garden path somewhat

[00:27:11] down Bellamy's garden path or any garden path

[00:27:13] we've talked about presenters

[00:27:15] and we've talked about what presenters give

[00:27:18] to viewers and audiences at home

[00:27:21] some of my favourite stuff has been

[00:27:23] working with presenters

[00:27:25] and I think part of it

[00:27:27] is as simple as having another member of the team

[00:27:29] who has a passion for a particular thing

[00:27:32] that is somebody to bounce off

[00:27:34] someone to generate ideas

[00:27:36] someone to parry with

[00:27:38] as part of the filmmaking process

[00:27:40] it's a shortcut to doing the research properly

[00:27:43] that's another way of describing it

[00:27:45] I think you're absolutely right

[00:27:47] Chris Packham's like that

[00:27:49] he just knows everything about everything

[00:27:51] he's such an intelligent guy

[00:27:53] and knows what's exciting and interesting

[00:27:55] to talk about as well

[00:27:57] so when you're directing a presenter like that

[00:27:59] you know what you think the story is going to be

[00:28:01] but then the presenter can sort of find something

[00:28:03] and turn it into something else

[00:28:05] that then you know it's proper documentary

[00:28:07] you can go down a slightly different path

[00:28:09] in your story based on the knowledge

[00:28:11] that they brought with them

[00:28:13] and the excitement they brought with them

[00:28:15] and you can do stuff to them as well

[00:28:17] you can make them wade through the water

[00:28:19] or wrestle the crocodile

[00:28:21] or whatever it may be to add a bit of excitement and drama

[00:28:23] and from a kind of practical perspective as well

[00:28:25] they're a fantastic get out of jail card

[00:28:27] you know you can feel

[00:28:29] you're in the edit and

[00:28:31] you need something exciting

[00:28:33] you need to tell a complex story

[00:28:35] you presenter can tell that story

[00:28:37] they can share that fact

[00:28:39] and it just adds something

[00:28:41] it can be a very efficient way of making films can't it

[00:28:43] a really solid 45 second piece to camera

[00:28:45] is 45 seconds of your film done

[00:28:48] in the can ready to go

[00:28:50] it doesn't mean it has to be

[00:28:52] boringly shot either though

[00:28:54] I mean it's like there are lots of really cool ways

[00:28:56] of shooting presenters so that they feel embedded

[00:28:57] in a really kind of visual way

[00:28:59] but also a great presenter you want to watch

[00:29:01] you want to see what they're going to say

[00:29:03] and what they think and they're charismatic

[00:29:05] and they draw you into the film

[00:29:07] and into the story and into their way of seeing something

[00:29:09] so a great presenter is just

[00:29:11] it feels easy to make a film

[00:29:13] with a great presenter doesn't it

[00:29:15] yeah if they're a good presenter

[00:29:17] they're inevitably a good storytellers themselves

[00:29:19] and they if you feel like they're your friend

[00:29:22] when they're telling you something

[00:29:24] then that can really help as well

[00:29:26] it's like being told a kind of cool story by

[00:29:27] a mate it can be as simple as that

[00:29:29] do we know or have any sense of how involved

[00:29:32] David Bellamy was in the creative process

[00:29:35] and the creative side of actually making these

[00:29:37] that is a really great question

[00:29:39] I didn't really find anything

[00:29:41] I mean when I was looking at this

[00:29:43] I was looking at the visual effects

[00:29:45] and electronic effects was kind of really

[00:29:48] interesting looking into that

[00:29:50] and a lot of the people who worked on

[00:29:52] Doctor Who also worked on this

[00:29:54] the other David, David Attenborough

[00:29:55] you know he tells very interesting tales

[00:29:58] about making television in those days

[00:30:00] David Attenborough would

[00:30:02] he was in a place where he could just go to his boss

[00:30:04] and say I should like to make a documentary series

[00:30:07] about Indonesia

[00:30:09] oh wonderful David that sounds fantastic

[00:30:11] how long are you going for and how much money do you need

[00:30:13] you know there was trust

[00:30:15] the filmmakers and the presenters were empowered

[00:30:17] it was understood that they had the knowledge

[00:30:19] and the expertise

[00:30:21] and that they would come back with the goods

[00:30:23] and off they'd go

[00:30:25] and they would attenborough

[00:30:27] a lot of it was done in the moment

[00:30:29] they would find cool things

[00:30:31] I mean obviously there's a certain amount of planning done

[00:30:33] but he would script as he goes

[00:30:35] and they would work it out as they go

[00:30:37] so the NHU made this

[00:30:39] and they say with David Attenborough

[00:30:41] and ZooQuest

[00:30:43] they have a long history of making

[00:30:45] natural history programs for kids

[00:30:47] it was really important for them

[00:30:49] they saw it was part of their mission

[00:30:51] we still have some natural history programming

[00:30:53] for kids today

[00:30:55] and they've got the deadly and things like that

[00:30:57] so you've still got that element of the deadly

[00:30:59] but it's not city and fun

[00:31:01] and crazy like this is

[00:31:03] I don't see anything like this for kids today

[00:31:05] well actually and that's where

[00:31:07] funnily enough a real bugs life does come in

[00:31:09] because I think that is a rare example of something

[00:31:11] that had a big budget

[00:31:13] was squarely natural history

[00:31:15] but also had a remit

[00:31:17] to appeal to all ages

[00:31:19] and in storytelling terms very much did

[00:31:21] but I think you're right

[00:31:23] I think it's unusual certainly nowadays

[00:31:25] I don't really wonder what our kids

[00:31:27] will be watching in ten years time

[00:31:29] of this sort of in this genre

[00:31:31] when we made in 2013

[00:31:33] I think it was we made

[00:31:35] the burrowers with Chris Packham

[00:31:37] you know it's another kind of attempt

[00:31:39] to get inside an invisible world

[00:31:41] in the same vein as by Keltafari I'd say

[00:31:43] where the conceit was

[00:31:45] let's cut a hillside in half

[00:31:47] and see how burrowing animals are living

[00:31:49] which I thought was a really cool

[00:31:51] concept from the beginning

[00:31:53] and that was you know this was BBC2

[00:31:55] they're going to appeal to the whole family

[00:31:57] because it was sort of you know

[00:31:59] there's elements of watershed down in there

[00:32:01] and the animals involved burrowing animals

[00:32:03] are kind of cute aren't they so they're going to appeal

[00:32:05] I think that's where the BBC does things really well

[00:32:07] we made the burrowers not on a massive budget

[00:32:09] for natural history it was you know

[00:32:11] it was a challenge in the end

[00:32:13] we had to kind of construct this underground

[00:32:15] burrow for the rabbits

[00:32:17] and there are lots of rules about you know

[00:32:19] the husbandry and so on and look at the rabbits behaviour

[00:32:21] but also badges and other burrowing animals as well

[00:32:23] it was a cool project to make

[00:32:25] it light the underground world

[00:32:27] and make it feel kind of moody and mysterious

[00:32:29] and it took influences from the world of fiction as well

[00:32:32] so you get on a hobbit hole into the burrow and so on

[00:32:35] so that ability to inject a bit of silliness

[00:32:38] a bit of fantasy into it was there

[00:32:40] and ever since we made that

[00:32:42] you know there's been a desire to make it again

[00:32:44] but we've never managed to find the right idea

[00:32:46] the right animals

[00:32:48] the burrowers was a real challenge to make

[00:32:50] for all sorts of reasons

[00:32:52] you know you get into TV thinking

[00:32:53] about the animals

[00:32:55] but you know it was an all hands on deck production

[00:32:57] right down to you know I remember arriving

[00:32:59] on set in the morning

[00:33:01] and the first task every morning

[00:33:03] because the rabbits would mark their territory

[00:33:05] by wewing everywhere

[00:33:07] we had these sort of glass screens

[00:33:09] that we're filming through

[00:33:11] and we had to design the whole thing ourselves

[00:33:13] you know it was like we went to zoo architects

[00:33:15] and it was all too expensive

[00:33:17] we had expertise in what we were doing

[00:33:19] but the manual, a lot of the manual stuff

[00:33:21] as production staff we had to ourselves

[00:33:23] and pull back these glass screens

[00:33:25] while the rabbits were in there

[00:33:27] try and clean all the piss off

[00:33:29] it was disgusting, it really stank

[00:33:31] every morning we'd do that

[00:33:33] as the showrunner job guys

[00:33:35] I know

[00:33:37] it wasn't just me

[00:33:39] we were all having to do it

[00:33:41] everybody had to pull their weight

[00:33:43] and you realise that you've designed it slightly wrong

[00:33:45] but the point I wanted to make about the burrowers

[00:33:47] was it was a natural history

[00:33:49] but we got to play with some of the literary references

[00:33:51] and the kind of idea

[00:33:53] that we were not actually working

[00:33:55] but we were working on a lot of the

[00:33:57] kind of cultural history

[00:33:59] but framed in this fun family way

[00:34:01] right down to the way that Chris the presenter

[00:34:03] would enter this underground world

[00:34:05] through this path

[00:34:07] through vegetation

[00:34:09] through a big round door

[00:34:11] like a sort of hobbit door

[00:34:13] so we played it for factual theatre

[00:34:15] which is what it was

[00:34:17] and ever since then

[00:34:19] we've repitched the burrowers

[00:34:21] with different animals

[00:34:23] and a bit just didn't quite have that magic

[00:34:25] finding that other secret world

[00:34:27] is the next challenge I think

[00:34:29] so what are your other than having to

[00:34:31] as a showrunner clean off rabbits

[00:34:33] pee every morning

[00:34:35] what are the other kind of great stories

[00:34:37] from the amazing people

[00:34:39] you've worked with the amazing places you've been

[00:34:41] well the first time I directed

[00:34:44] Sir David Ambrer

[00:34:46] was obviously a pretty momentous occasion

[00:34:48] I think if David Bellamy was still working

[00:34:50] I'm sure we would hold him in the same

[00:34:51] and he hadn't had this political thing

[00:34:53] I think he would be as loved as David Ambrer

[00:34:56] because I think the magic of David Ambrer

[00:34:58] is that he's everybody alive today

[00:35:00] certainly in the UK

[00:35:02] and around the world

[00:35:04] has seen him on television since they were kids

[00:35:06] and so he has this fatherly

[00:35:08] or grandfatherly charm about him

[00:35:10] that we all just want to hear from him

[00:35:12] and we all believe him and trust him

[00:35:14] so like any good natural history filmmaker

[00:35:16] I was pretty nervous about working with him

[00:35:18] when I got the job

[00:35:19] and I was able to get commissioned

[00:35:21] and one of the things that we were going to do

[00:35:23] was film fossils at the Burgess Shale

[00:35:25] in Canada

[00:35:27] and the Burgess Shale is way up in a mountainside

[00:35:29] and it's only exposed

[00:35:31] for about three months of the year

[00:35:33] the rest of the year it's covered in ice and snow

[00:35:35] so you've got to get there

[00:35:37] in that window

[00:35:39] so the thing, the series got commissioned

[00:35:41] this was first life for the BBC

[00:35:43] got commissioned and immediately it's like

[00:35:45] well we've got to get out there

[00:35:47] in like three weeks or something

[00:35:49] and this whole scene

[00:35:51] work out the whole series

[00:35:53] and work out how this scene fits in

[00:35:55] and so we were kind of planning this shoot

[00:35:58] you know all the stresses of setting a shoot up quickly

[00:36:00] and we decided we're going to do the Burgess Shale

[00:36:02] and another location called Mistaken Point

[00:36:04] which has the earliest animal fossils on earth

[00:36:07] it's on a coastline

[00:36:09] it's very windswept in Newfoundland actually

[00:36:11] so there's, it's very foggy

[00:36:13] and so we went to do the recce

[00:36:15] we did lots of recceing to try and figure out

[00:36:17] how are we going to get this octogenarian

[00:36:19] base

[00:36:21] very worried about making him walk too far

[00:36:23] was he, I think his knees were

[00:36:25] we're giving up on him at the time

[00:36:27] since I had them replaced

[00:36:29] we knew he couldn't make him walk very far

[00:36:31] we didn't want to tire him out

[00:36:33] everything in our planning was

[00:36:35] you know we were thinking about the strategy

[00:36:37] for keeping David moving

[00:36:39] you know feed him chocolate

[00:36:41] feed him magnum ice creams

[00:36:43] you know let's keep him going

[00:36:45] give him the sugar

[00:36:47] this one location at Mistaken Point

[00:36:49] unfortunately the guide wasn't able to come back with us

[00:36:52] on the day of filming

[00:36:54] so he showed us the path

[00:36:56] and said make sure you go down here

[00:36:58] park the car here, walk down there

[00:37:00] and it's down this path

[00:37:02] and of course the day that David arrived

[00:37:04] there was some kind of transport issue

[00:37:06] he was a bit late turning up

[00:37:08] we had less than an hour of light left

[00:37:10] it was our only chance to get down

[00:37:12] he only needs a piece to camera about these fossils

[00:37:14] that's all we needed from him

[00:37:16] and I'd kind of scripted it

[00:37:17] and the crew they would go down ahead

[00:37:19] get set up and then I'd go and collect

[00:37:21] David from the car

[00:37:23] so everyone had their role

[00:37:25] we knew what we had to do

[00:37:27] and eventually David turned up

[00:37:29] and of course you got the intros

[00:37:31] I mean I met him in pre-production meetings

[00:37:33] but this was the first time on location

[00:37:35] and the crew went down

[00:37:37] and I was walking with David

[00:37:39] and Anthony Geffen who is the executive producer

[00:37:41] at the time

[00:37:43] and we were walking along this coastal path

[00:37:45] to get there

[00:37:47] and so my head was spinning in all sorts of different directions

[00:37:50] I was worrying about the lights

[00:37:52] we'd been walking for about 15-20 minutes

[00:37:54] and Anthony just said to me

[00:37:56] Martin I thought you said it was only a 10 minute walk

[00:37:58] we'd been walking for 20 minutes

[00:38:00] and I looked at the path

[00:38:02] and it looked the same that way as that way

[00:38:04] and I thought oh shit I've missed the turning down

[00:38:06] because the whole coastline

[00:38:08] it all looked the same

[00:38:10] there were lots of paths going down

[00:38:12] and I thought oh my god

[00:38:14] and then sort of David came up behind us

[00:38:15] and Anthony just said oh yes that's alright David

[00:38:18] just a change of plan

[00:38:20] we're going to go to a different location

[00:38:22] and David just knew straight away

[00:38:24] that was not the truth

[00:38:26] because he said well why didn't we do the crew

[00:38:28] walking past us then

[00:38:30] I just wanted the floor to open

[00:38:32] the whole thing was hideous

[00:38:34] and I was thinking it was going to be too dark

[00:38:36] anyway we went back down

[00:38:38] eventually we found the path down

[00:38:40] I gave David the crew there

[00:38:42] and it was this incredible scene actually

[00:38:43] because it was a windswept coastline

[00:38:45] we're talking about the dawn of life on earth effectively

[00:38:47] the dawn of animal life on earth

[00:38:49] and I gave David this piece to read

[00:38:51] and he read it through a couple of times

[00:38:53] he knew the pressure was on

[00:38:55] and stood him in position

[00:38:57] and he sort of he was wearing that blue coat

[00:38:59] he wears it sort of done up like this

[00:39:01] and the wind was blowing in his hair

[00:39:03] was looking a bit windswept

[00:39:05] but in the kind of classic Attenborough style

[00:39:07] and then just as he was about to start

[00:39:09] the sun went just below the cloud layer

[00:39:11] so there was these shafts of light coming out

[00:39:13] and then there were grey clouds in the sky

[00:39:15] the ocean was quite rough and rugged

[00:39:17] it looked like we were standing on earth

[00:39:19] at the very beginning

[00:39:21] and he just did this incredible piece to count really

[00:39:23] for some three billion years

[00:39:26] simple microscopic organisms

[00:39:28] were the most advanced form of life

[00:39:30] on the planet

[00:39:32] that's way over half the entire history

[00:39:34] of life on earth

[00:39:37] and then suddenly

[00:39:39] within the space of a few million years

[00:39:40] a mere blink of the eye in evolutionary terms

[00:39:43] advanced organisms appeared

[00:39:46] why?

[00:39:48] is a mystery

[00:39:50] but we may find some clues to it

[00:39:52] on the coastline down here

[00:39:54] and he just nailed it in one take

[00:39:56] it's the secret source that a great presenter has

[00:39:58] they add that magic to words on paper

[00:40:00] it can look quite banal

[00:40:02] but he looked the part, he sounded the part

[00:40:04] and it was such a relief

[00:40:06] that everybody just burst out laughing

[00:40:08] it was the best moment of my career actually

[00:40:10] it was so hard

[00:40:12] that's David Attenborough reading these words that I've written

[00:40:14] I could not believe it

[00:40:16] I mean awe just listening to that

[00:40:18] the best part was he could see him looking around

[00:40:20] and you could see him just nodding

[00:40:22] I got it, I still got it

[00:40:24] that is such a brilliant story to end on

[00:40:26] what do you think?

[00:40:28] I've got one more question really

[00:40:30] which is the question that we're going to ask everyone really

[00:40:32] what's for lunch?

[00:40:34] you brought this brilliant thing in for us to watch

[00:40:36] you've had the chance to watch it again

[00:40:38] I'm guessing for the first time in quite a long time

[00:40:40] what it means to you?

[00:40:42] I'm kind of really grateful to David Bellamy

[00:40:44] and David Attenborough

[00:40:46] and that whole school of filmmakers

[00:40:49] for having the kind of innovative ideas

[00:40:52] to make shows like that

[00:40:54] and that kind of raw passion

[00:40:56] the fact that these were people who

[00:40:58] the on-screen people

[00:41:00] David Bellamy, David Attenborough

[00:41:02] they're people who passionately believed

[00:41:04] in what they were doing

[00:41:06] there was no other agenda than just

[00:41:08] telling a really cool story

[00:41:10] that I found really exciting

[00:41:12] and you can't help but be inspired

[00:41:15] and engage when you watch those shows

[00:41:17] actually, I look at David Bellamy's

[00:41:19] Backyard Safari show

[00:41:21] and I think that visually

[00:41:23] it was incredibly inspiring and innovative as well

[00:41:25] just to have the idea

[00:41:27] but then execute it in a way that he did

[00:41:29] clearly there's things that

[00:41:31] have not stood the test of time as well

[00:41:33] but as a show I think it's magical

[00:41:35] I love the fact that we're still trying

[00:41:37] to make shows like that today

[00:41:38] and we're just trying to bring it in

[00:41:40] thank you so much

[00:41:42] it's been wonderful

[00:41:44] let's have some lunch then shall we

[00:41:46] yes!

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