69-437: The BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU) is a department of BBC Studios that produces television, radio and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme. It is best known for its highly regarded nature documentaries , including The Blue Planet and Planet Earth , and has a long association with David Attenborough 's authored documentaries, starting with 1979's Life on Earth . The Natural History Unit
138-454: A 50-minute Sunday evening slot. Because of the challenge of producing enough colour material, the commission was shared between the NHU and London's Travel and Exploration Unit. The extended opportunities offered by the 50-minute format and improvements in film technology and expertise finally allowed the NHU to begin showcasing its talent. One of Attenborough's main achievements as Controller of BBC 2
207-519: A Dragon featured the first ever television footage of the Komodo dragon , while Quest for the Paradise Birds was centred on the birds-of-paradise of New Guinea . Attenborough wrote a book to accompany each series except the first. The books were later reprinted in abridged form as a two-volume set in the 1980s. Lagus also wrote two books inspired by the programme: Operation Noah's Ark and Benjamin,
276-547: A Top Gear episode in December 2022. In March 2024, BBC Studios had announced that they have acquired Melbourne-based Australian live-action production powerhouse company Werner Film Productions based and placed the acquired company under their Australian division BBC Studios Productions Australia expanding their operations in Australia. BBC Studios has built up a stake in a variety of different production companies. BBC Records
345-544: A chronological summary of the Unit's major television and film productions. As well as returning series such as Springwatch and Autumnwatch and natural history content for BBC One's The One Show , the Unit has been commissioned to produce or co-produce the following announced titles: The Natural History Unit as a whole was awarded the Gold Medal at the 2001 Royal Television Society awards for its "outstanding contribution over
414-615: A division of the BBC was completed in April 2016. In September 2016, the BBC announced that it would tender its non-news programmes over the next 11 years, beginning with programmes such as A Question of Sport , Holby City and Songs of Praise . In October 2016, the BBC announced that it planned to lay off 300 employees from the division seen as redundant. In December 2016, BBC Studios announced that it had reached an agreement with Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT) in regards to
483-486: A joint venture in 2016 and launched in 2017 in North America; the international service remains a joint venture of BBC Studios and ITV plc. A separately managed UK version of the service launched in 2019 but is now a fully owned subsidiary of ITV, after they announced in 2022 that they had bought out the BBC and its other partners with the intention of integrating the service with ITVX . Zoo Quest Zoo Quest
552-420: A long-term deal with WarnerMedia 's upcoming HBO Max for streaming rights to past seasons of top BBC programmes such as Doctor Who , The Honourable Woman , Luther , and Top Gear . In January 2020, it also sold second-window streaming rights to 14 series to CW Seed (a video on-demand platform operated by The CW , a television network co-owned by WarnerMedia). In February 2021, BBC Studios launched
621-550: A nest hole. By 1957, with Look firmly established and Gillard and Hawkins lobbying hard, the BBC management in London approved the official formation of a Natural History Unit. Gillard was on the search for a senior producer to head the new Unit, and asked David Attenborough to take on the role. Attenborough had good credentials (he was a trained zoologist ) but declined, having recently settled in London with his young family. Instead, he
690-487: A new streaming brand in North America known as BBC Select , dedicated to factual content. On 22 February 2021, BBC Studios signed a first-look deal with Gobstopper Group. In March 2021, it was announced that the BBC Children's Productions and BBC Global News units would also be transferred into BBC Studios. With the change, BBC Studios will handle international distribution and advertising sales for BBC World News , while
759-496: A proposal to split the BBC's in-house production units for non-news television programming into a separate BBC Studios division, which would eventually, with BBC Trust approval as part of the next revision to the BBC's charter, be spun-out as a for-profit subsidiary of the BBC. This proposal would allow the BBC's units to produce programmes for other broadcasters and digital outlets (which could be done in conjunction with its international distribution arm BBC Worldwide ) in addition to
SECTION 10
#1732852839804828-547: A special award at the International Broadcasting Convention in recognition of its unique contribution to wildlife film and documentary making. On television, the anniversary was marked with the broadcast of Saving Planet Earth , a conservation-themed series which helped to raise over £1.5 million for the BBC Wildlife Fund. In October 2007, the BBC announced that the NHU would suffer cuts of
897-488: A third in both staff numbers and its £37 million annual budget, as a result of the Government's decision to impose a lower than inflation increase in the television licence fee. The cutbacks were widely condemned within the media industry and by programme-makers, including David Attenborough. In response to the criticism, Keith Scholey, Factual Controller of BBC Vision, promised that the BBC would "continue to make and show
966-465: Is a series of multi-part nature documentaries broadcast on the BBC Television Service between 1954 and 1963. It was the first major programme to feature David Attenborough . In each series, Attenborough travelled with staff from London Zoo to a tropical country to capture an animal for the zoo's collection (the accepted practice at the time). Although the programme was structured around
1035-639: Is a specialist department within BBC Studios Productions. Each year it produces around 100 hours of television and 50 hours of radio programmes, making it the largest wildlife documentary production house in the world. The BBC commissions programmes from the Unit for broadcast on five terrestrial television channels ( BBC One , BBC Two , BBC Four , CBBC and CBeebies ) and BBC Radio 4 . It also makes programmes for other broadcasters and services including Apple TV+ , Warner Bros. Discovery , National Geographic Global Networks and NBC Universal . Content
1104-578: Is marketed internationally under the BBC Earth brand. Original content is also broadcast on the Earth Unplugged YouTube channel. The Unit has been based in Broadcasting House, Bristol since its formation in 1957, and has been headed by Jonny Keeling since 2021. The BBC natural history unit's links to Bristol date back to the 1940s, when Desmond Hawkins , then a young producer, joined
1173-837: The Wildlife Special miniseries Tiger: Spy in the Jungle both reportedly achieved the highest-ever audience appreciation index (AI) rating for a factual programme. Since launching commercially, the Natural History Unit has won commissions from international broadcasters including Apple TV+ ( The Year Earth Changed and Prehistoric Planet ), Discovery Channel ( Endangered , narrated by Ellen DeGeneres ), NBCUniversal ( The Americas previously known as The New World ), National Geographic ( Ocean Xplorers in partnership with James Cameron ), and PBS ( Wild Scandinavia , narrated by Rebecca Ferguson ), as well as producing for
1242-484: The BBC Natural History Unit that was found to have been shot in colour. At the time of the programme's inception in the 1950s, the BBC's film unit preferred 35mm film for use in television programmes. However, 35 mm cameras were often big and unwieldy, and Attenborough wished to use the more lightweight, handheld 16 mm film cameras for filming Zoo Quest abroad. The BBC eventually relented, but only on
1311-425: The BBC's publicly funded properties. As a for-profit company, BBC Studios would be allowed to pay higher wages to its executives and talent, and no longer face scrutiny over them as it did as a public entity. The proposal was described by The Guardian as being "one of the biggest changes to the BBC in its 93-year history". The proposal attracted criticism from independent studios, who felt that it would result in
1380-656: The BBC. Content is marketed internationally under BBC Studios' BBC Earth brand. Original content is also broadcast on the BBC Earth YouTube channel. According to BBC Studios BBC Studios Limited is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Worldwide . BBC Studios creates, develops, produces, distributes, broadcasts, finances and sells content around
1449-500: The Move . Natural World also received a three-year commission from BBC Two on its 25th anniversary. Post 2010, a greater emphasis was placed on climate change, which several special programmes broadcast focusing on the issue. More broadly, series looked at the negative effects of climate change and habitat destruction within series that did not focus solely on the topic. In 2016, BBC's non-news content production, including natural history,
SECTION 20
#17328528398041518-513: The Unit's first colour production. This was one of six films made for the BBC by part-time film-makers Ron Peggs and Leslie Jackman . Leslie filmed the insect sequences at his home in Paignton using specimens collected by John Burton. Colour transmission finally arrived in 1967 on BBC 2 under the stewardship of David Attenborough, who had retired from programme-making to move into BBC administration. The first natural history film to be shown in colour
1587-565: The West Region staff. His personal interest in the subject led to a radio series called The Naturalist , which began on the Home Service in 1946 and proved an immediate success, later augmented by Out of Doors and Birds in Britain . By the early 1950s, Hawkins had been promoted to Head of Programmes, West Region and was keen to translate his success to the developing medium of television . At
1656-479: The Zoo Quest Bear. By the time Quest Under Capricorn was completed, Attenborough felt that the series had run its course. The practice of catching wild animals for zoos had also begun to fall out of favour as zoos became more aware of their environmental impact. (Today London Zoo only captures animals in the wild if a species is so endangered that a captive breeding programme is its only hope.) Attenborough spent
1725-409: The acquisition of Scandinavian production company STV (not to be confused with Scotland's STV Group ). The Copenhagen-based company will be rebranded BBC Studios Nordic Productions. In October 2023, press reports confirmed that BBC Studios had reached a multi-million pound financial settlement to compensate Top Gear presenter Freddie Flintoff for the injuries he sustained in a car crash when filming
1794-516: The ambitious, large-scale, truly memorable series that audiences associate with BBC natural history output". Titles affected by the cuts include the BBC Two Wild strand. Productions already underway were not affected by the cuts, so the following year came Wild China , Pacific Abyss , Lost Land of the Jaguar and Big Cat Live , as well as the Unit's most ambitious radio event to date, World on
1863-469: The company in line with other major multinational studio conglomerates. BBC Studios Productions was the UK's most commissioned creator of new content in 2019, with 77 new commissions from the BBC and third-parties. It achieved 73 awards and 202 nominations in 2019/2020. BBC Studios represents formats and programmes made by hundreds of independent producers, as well as its own production teams and returned £176m to
1932-511: The condition that colour film stock was used, as it allegedly gave the best picture quality for the format. (The BBC did not begin routine colour broadcasting until 1967 at the earliest.) This film was then stored away and forgotten about, until 2015, when an archivist looking over the reels of film realised they were in colour. As a result, a special programme, Zoo Quest in Colour , was screened on BBC Four on 17 May 2016. 90 minutes in duration,
2001-415: The curator of the reptile house at London Zoo. Lester invited Attenborough to come along and film an expedition to Sierra Leone . In addition to capturing snakes for the zoo, Lester hoped to catch a white-necked rockfowl ( Picathartes gymnocephalus ), which had never been kept in a European zoo before. Attenborough, whose previous programmes had been studio-bound, was eager for a chance to film animals in
2070-515: The early problems for the Unit was the difficulty in sourcing film stock . At the time, the only wildlife cameramen were amateurs, and the footage wasn't always good enough for broadcast. The embryo unit's first film camera, a clockwork Bolex , was bought from a Bristol camera shop with petty cash by Desmond's assistant, Tony Soper . Some of Scott's own expedition films were used for early episodes of Look . One particularly outstanding film from 1955, shot by Heinz Sielmann , showed woodpeckers inside
2139-699: The first official Head of the Unit. It celebrated its silver jubilee in 1982 with the miniseries Flight of the Condor , and sealed its reputation as one of the foremost production companies for popular natural history films in the following decades. A succession of series have followed the format established by Life on Earth , often presented or narrated by Attenborough, and transmitted on the BBC's main channel. The Blue Planet (2001) and Planet Earth (2006) typify these signature programmes, characterised by high production values, specially-commissioned musical scores and often ground-breaking footage of wildlife from around
BBC Studios Natural History Unit - Misplaced Pages Continue
2208-493: The first underwater films. Nicholas Crocker, a senior producer with West Region, became the Unit's first Head in September 1957. Founder members included Tony Soper (producer) and Christopher Parsons (assistant film editor ), both of whom would go on to play a major part in the Unit's development. Although much of the Unit's early output concentrated on British and European wildlife, one of its first productions to be broadcast
2277-506: The following year), all episodes of Zoo Quest exist in the BBC Archives. The series was the most popular wildlife programme of its time in Britain, and established Attenborough's career as a nature documentary presenter. The seed for Zoo Quest was sown when Attenborough produced and presented a three-part nature programme, The Pattern of Animals , in the early 1950s. While researching animals for this programme, he befriended Jack Lester,
2346-410: The formation of a "super-indie" that would unduly benefit from "guaranteed" programme commissions from the BBC. As part of the split, the BBC planned to tender its programmes, so that independent producers and BBC Studios could bid for the rights to produce its non-news programming, outside of top shows (such as Doctor Who ) assigned to BBC Studios. The re-organisation and formation of BBC Studios as
2415-425: The globe. The NHU has also diversified into other programme formats. Its Diary series have featured African big cats , elephants , orang-utans and bears in a nightly wildlife soap opera . Among of the longest-running programmes has been Wildlife on One (1977–2005) which was broadcast in a regular evening slot. The Continents strand on BBC Two has featured series on all the world's major land areas over
2484-411: The idea. Attenborough was receptive, even to the idea that he should present the series, but both men realised at that time that it was beyond the scope of the Unit's capabilities. When Attenborough resigned from his administrative duties to return to programme making at the start of 1973, planning for the proposed series resumed. It was another three years before the resourcing and financing were agreed,
2553-418: The independent sector in 2018/2019. The company is on track to meet its five-year target of returning £1.2bn to the BBC by 2021/2022. BBC Studios has committed to growing this total by a further 30% to a new target of £1.5bn in the five years from 2022/2023. BBC Studios Ltd. as a production company was first registered on 27 February 2015. In September 2015, the BBC's general director Tony Hall announced
2622-426: The next eight years as an administrator, rising to become Controller of Programming of both BBC 1 and 2, at the BBC before returning to full-time programme-making with Eastwards with Attenborough in 1973. Several episodes of Zoo Quest and Quest Under Capricorn are available to view on the BBC iPlayer Archives section. In 2016, the BBC announced that footage of the first three expeditions had been unearthed by
2691-429: The outline episode scripts written (by Attenborough) and a production team in place. Parsons would serve as series producer and share production duties for the individual episodes with Richard Brock and John Sparks . Filming took place in 39 countries, featured over 650 different species and involved over 1 million miles of travel. Attenborough himself has said that if it had not been for computerised airline schedules,
2760-635: The past 44 years to broadcasting about the natural world". It was praised for being "a national resource for people's understanding and love of wildlife on our planet, and a symbol of both quality and talent in public service broadcasting". NHU filmmakers are regularly nominated and rewarded at film festivals such as Wildscreen , the Missoula International Wildlife Film Festival and the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and their output has been recognised by
2829-447: The past eighteen years, including Spirits of the Jaguar (1996), Land of the Tiger (1997), Andes to Amazon (2000) and Wild Down Under (2003). Also on BBC Two, the annual Springwatch (since 2005) and Autumnwatch (since 2006) series have brought live pictures of British wildlife into millions of homes. In 2007, the Unit celebrated its 50th anniversary and was rewarded with
BBC Studios Natural History Unit - Misplaced Pages Continue
2898-508: The potential of taking British children's content to the wider global market, along with BBC Three 's in-house production team, which is joining from April 2021. BBC News and BBC Radio remain separate internal production divisions in the BBC, and the rest of the former BBC Television division (channels and genre commissioning, including BBC Sport and BBC iPlayer ) are part of the BBC Content division. The BBC Studios production division
2967-500: The production and sales of its programming within one unit, it would improve efficiency and be in line with the "global norms" of other major international media companies. Technically, BBC Ventures Group Ltd. was renamed BBC Studios Group Ltd. on 3 April 2018, and then BBC Studios Ltd. 1 October 2018; also in October, the production company established in 2015 was renamed BBC Studios Productions Ltd., and so did BBC Worldwide Ltd. , which
3036-519: The programme also includes some of the framing black and white studio footage. All of the colour material was remastered direct from the original negative, and is therefore of much higher quality than the grainy and somewhat worn black and white kinescope film prints that had previously been used. Attenborough said: "I was astonished when someone said we've got nearly all the film of the first three expeditions you did in colour. I said, 'it's impossible, we shot in black and white'." He then went on to recall
3105-402: The programme uses footage from the first three episodes, featuring the best footage from Zoo Quest trips to West Africa and South America . It also includes the best scenes from Zoo Quest for a Dragon , in which a Komodo dragon was filmed in the wild for the first time. A few shots are in black and white, due to being filmed in low-light conditions on more sensitive black and white stock, and
3174-530: The public service BBC News operation will assume editorial control of the channel. More recently, the studio had set up a development deal with EbonyLife Media, which was affiliated with Sony Pictures Television , headed by Mo Abudu . In August 2022, it was revealed that BBC Studios planned to launch an international newsletter business, initially focusing on Canada and the US, the BBC's second largest non-UK news market behind India. In June 2023, BBC Studios announced
3243-465: The quest for the animal, it also featured film of other wildlife in the area and of the local people and their customs. Attenborough introduced each programme from the studio and then narrated the film his team had shot on location. At the end of each series, the animals the team had captured were introduced in the studio, where experts from the zoo discussed them. With the exception of the original 1954 series (which survives as edited compilations repeated
3312-531: The remaining stake in the indie outfit and placed Firebird under their subsidiaries. In April 2019, BBC Studios announced various agreements with Discovery, Inc. ; the companies agreed to break apart their UKTV joint venture, with Discovery (which had acquired a stake in UKTV after its purchase of Scripps Networks Interactive ) acquiring the BBC's stake in UKTV's lifestyle channels, and BBC Studios likewise acquiring Discovery's stakes in UKTV's entertainment channels and
3381-517: The responsibility of the Features office of the West Region. One of the first programmes was an outside broadcast from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust 's centre at Slimbridge in 1953, the first TV collaboration between the BBC and Peter Scott . Occasional programmes continued the following year, but it was not until 1955 that the BBC began a regular studio-based series, Look , presented by Scott. One of
3450-402: The same time, the technology to broadcast and receive colour television was being developed, and the BBC made funds available to begin filming in colour to allow filmmakers to experiment with the latest equipment in preparation for the switchover. The Major (1963), produced by Parsons and filmed largely by New Forest cameraman Eric Ashby, told the story of an ancient English oak and was
3519-512: The series would have probably been impossible to undertake. When it was finally broadcast in 1979 on BBC 1 , Life on Earth drew an audience of 15 million people in the UK and was eventually seen by an estimated 500 million people worldwide. The Natural History Unit made its name with Life on Earth , and was rewarded by being awarded departmental status by BBC management in December 1979. Christopher Parsons, by then its most experienced producer, became
SECTION 50
#17328528398043588-417: The studio-based series To Bafut for Beef (April 1958), using African footage shot by Durrell. In the early 1960s, natural history filmmaking was being held back by the limitations of the available technology, particularly the restrictions of shooting often fast-moving subjects in poor light and spectacularly colourful subjects in black and white. The second of these problems was about to be resolved. Around
3657-446: The tendering plan, stating that it would tender at least 40% of the "in-house guarantee" within two years of approval of the transition. The BBC Trust subsequently approved the creation of BBC Studios as a commercial subsidiary, with the process expected to be completed in April 2017. On 29 November 2017, the BBC announced that BBC Worldwide would be merged into BBC Studios effective 1 April 2018. The BBC stated that by handling both
3726-504: The time, radio still commanded much higher audiences than the fledgling television service, but Hawkins was not alone in recognising the potential for natural history programmes for the newer medium. His vision was shared by Frank Gillard , the regional Head, and the two men would become the driving force behind the establishment of the Natural History Unit (NHU) in Bristol. Until such formalities were completed, natural history programmes were
3795-507: The video on-demand service UKTV Play . In addition, Discovery announced a 10-year agreement with the BBC's Natural History Unit to acquire exclusive subscription video-on-demand rights to its content worldwide (which would be incorporated into a forthcoming global streaming brand ), and co-fund a development team. Discovery had previously served as the Natural History's Unit U.S. partner until 2013. In August 2019, BBC Studios announced
3864-514: The wider broadcasting industry too, winning four Emmys , eleven BAFTAs , and the Prix Italia on three occasions. Recognition has also come in the form of high audience viewing figures and audience approval ratings, particularly for 'blue-chip' series such as Planet Earth . When first screened in the UK it was watched by more than 8 million people. In 2008, episodes of Life in Cold Blood and
3933-402: The wild. He also thought the quest for the bird would make a compelling central story for the series. Attenborough and Lester were soon joined by a young Czech photographer, Charles Lagus , who would be Attenborough's cameraman and travelling companion throughout Zoo Quest' s run. The team overcame the objections of BBC management to film the trip on 16mm film instead of the 35mm film that
4002-429: The world, returning around £ 200 million to the BBC annually in dividends and content investment. BBC Studios Productions brings together the majority of BBC Television 's former in-house production departments; Factual, Drama, Comedy (both combined as Scripted in the new division), Entertainment, and Music & Events. BBC Children's production is set to move into BBC Studios Productions from April 2022 to increase
4071-544: Was Faraway Look featuring Peter Scott in Australia . The early programmes were limited by the available technology, but it was also a time of great experimentation in style and content, bringing the Unit notable success. Animal Magic (1962–1983), presented by Johnny Morris and Tony Soper, was a successful format for young audiences which ran for over 20 years. The Unit also collaborated with Gerald Durrell on several films of his animal-collecting expeditions, beginning with
4140-495: Was Ron Eastman's The Private Life of the Kingfisher (1968), written and produced by Jeffery Boswall . Attenborough, by then controller of BBC 2, wanted to make a strong statement on BBC's second channel of the boundless possibilities that colour television offered, and recognised that natural history was the obvious subject matter to choose. He commissioned a series called The World About Us (1969–1982) that would broadcast in
4209-431: Was a division of the BBC founded in 1967 to commercially exploit the corporation's output for radio and television for both educational and domestic use. In the 1990s licensing and marketing of the BBC's recorded output become the responsibility of BBC Worldwide (formerly BBC Enterprises) , and the corporation ceased the direct release of recorded material, instead licensing its products to other companies. BBC Worldwide
SECTION 60
#17328528398044278-532: Was able to present only one installment before being taken into hospital. (After several recurrences of this illness Lester died in 1956 at the age of 47.) Because the programme had already been scheduled, Attenborough took over the presenter's role. The first series, called simply Zoo Quest , gained viewers with each episode, and Attenborough found himself being stopped in the street and asked 'Are you going to catch that bird or not?'. Six sequels followed, each named according to its theme. For example, Zoo Quest for
4347-457: Was formed in 2016 and launched as a commercial entity in 2017, enabling it to produce programming for other broadcasters and services to generate profit to return to the BBC to supplement licence fee income. In exchange, the BBC agreed to place production of much of its non-news programmes to tender , allowing third-party independents to compete with BBC Studios on bids to produce them. The merger of BBC Studios and BBC Worldwide in 2018, brought
4416-424: Was merged into BBC Studios from 2018, which now licenses the use of the BBC logo on commercial recordings. BritBox is an over-the-top subscription video on-demand brand, which includes original programming commissioned or acquired by the company, and third-party content licensed from other UK channels such as BBC , ITV , Channel 4 and Channel 5 . The service was announced by BBC Worldwide and ITV plc as
4485-582: Was placed in charge of the newly formed Travel and Exploration Unit , striking a deal which would allow him to continue to film his popular Zoo Quest (1954–1963) series alongside natural history output from the fledgling Bristol unit. The Travel and Exploration Unit in London also introduced viewers to more exotic wildlife, and made household names of the first natural history presenters. Armand and Michaela Denis filmed East African wildlife for their On Safari programmes, whilst another pioneering husband-and-wife team, Hans and Lotte Hass , created some of
4554-527: Was renamed BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. In February 2019, BBC Studios had announced that they've taken a 25% minority stake in the new independent drama production company founded by former BBC executives Elizabeth Kilgarriff and Craig Holleworth which was named Firebird Pictures and signed an international distribution deal to distribute Firebird's programmes. Three years later in October 2022, BBC Studios announce that they had taken full control of independent drama production label Firebird Pictures by acquiring
4623-486: Was separated into a commercial subsidiary BBC Studios . NHU head Wendy Darke departed and was succeeded by Julian Hector. Since its inception in the 1950s, the Natural History Unit has produced a wealth of material for television, radio, and more recently, cinema. Being the first and the largest production unit devoted to natural history programme making, it maintains an extensive archive of images and sound recordings as well as film materials. The filmography article presents
4692-400: Was then the corporation's standard. As a result, colour film stock was used, as it gave the best picture quality for the format. (The BBC did not begin colour broadcasting until 1967.) The original plan was for Lester to present the studio portion of the programme, while Attenborough produced it. However, Lester developed an unknown tropical disease soon after returning from Africa, and
4761-430: Was to commission Civilisation (1969), a major series presented by the respected art historian Kenneth Clark . It was a resounding success with critics and the public, pioneering the 'personal view' form of documentary films for television. Parsons, by then an experienced producer with the NHU, recognised the potential for a similar treatment with natural history as the subject and approached Attenborough in 1970 with
#803196