At a time when screens are getting smaller, the breath-taking images at BBC’s Planet Earth III premiere in London were beamed on gigantic screens around the room, giving an immersive experience. One almost felt one was in the scorching Namib Desert or in the ocean swimming with the coldly grinning sharks.
Trunk tales
Executive Producer Mike Gunton | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The wide-screen experience, according to executive producer Mike Gunton, was driven by the fact that people made it a point to watch earlier seasons of Planet Earth on as big a screen as possible. “People would get together for a Planet Earth party. There was something about Planet Earth that brought people together. The event last night is probably about as big a screen as you can manage.” There is not much television, Mike says, that one is compelled to watch on a large screen. “If there are any shows, then PE III will be the one.”
Pick of the lot
Choosing a defining image of PE III is a big ask, Mike, who is a senior executive at the BBC Natural History Unit, says. “David Attenborough walking in exactly the same location that Charles Darwin walked 200 years ago when Darwin was coming up with his theory of evolution is one of the defining moments on the show. David saying ‘we’re now going to talk about what the planet is like 200 years later’ puts it in perspective.”
In terms of the animals, that moment where the male ostrich turns upon hearing the sound of his lost baby generates an extraordinary emotion.” Mike chooses two more images. “One is the rhino in Nepal. You realise a wild rhinoceros is walking down a city street, completely oblivious, going from where it used to feed to where it wants to feed with somebody having built a town in its path. The second is at the end of the ‘Extremes’ episode. A snow leopard and its family are on top of a pinnacle in the Gobi Desert and David says, ‘this is Planet Earth as you may never see it again’. The combination of those words and that image is pretty strong.”
Opportunity to do more
The third season of the Nature documentary is both a cautionary tale and an expression of hope, Mike says. “There has to be hope, because without hope, nothing will happen. It’s not a fable as we are trying to be as truthful as possible. There was an opportunity to do more than just show the wonders of Nature.”
Not wanting to do a compare and contrast, (isn’t this wonderful? Isn’t this terrible?), Mike says they chose the contextualised, nuanced route.
“Humanity is a powerful force, and we have our own survival to look after as well. We’re not going to go back to the Stone Age. PE III is trying to show the natural world in a modern way. We show the wonders and also the touch points where humanity and animals come into contact.”
Forty years later
Talking about PE III as a cautionary tale, Mike says, “Forty years ago, David did a series called Living Planet. In the final episode, ‘Modern Worlds’, he said, ‘human beings are incredibly powerful. We are going to get more powerful, how are we going to use that power? How would it impact the natural world? If we don’t use it well, things are not going to go well for the natural world.’ And so it has proved to be.”
There are some notable exceptions. “You do sense the weather vane is swinging slightly. Public opinion is much more concerned about Nature. It is the big levers of power that need to be pulled if we’re going to turn this round. It’s not just because it’s nice to see wild animals but because we depend on them. Connectedness is one of the themes of PE III. Action A has consequences on animal worlds B, C, D, E, F and G. We are playing with fire by not understanding that.”
Bit of both
The first season of Planet Earth, Mike said was a revelatory view of our planet. “It was the first time we were able to stand back and look at it from an almost God’s view. In PE II we got the cameras very close to the animals to see what it was like to be in their worlds. If the first season was about species, the second was about individuals.”
Season 3, Mike says, does a bit of both. “The prism is visual and technical as well as conceptual. We’re looking at our planet and the impact of humanity on the natural world. While there is no camera lens for that, there is a storytelling approach and editorial perspective that does.”
Unusually high rainfall in arid parts of Africa, due to climate change, has led population explosions of Desert locusts | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
While you get to see the wonder and surprises of the planet, Mike says, there is also this extra subtext. “One of the things I’m most pleased about is that we’ve got the balance right.”
Different perspectives
Filmed in 43 countries and six continents over five years the eight-episode show had its share of challenges. “Striking that balance was tough. There was COVID-19, which created a new approach. We used many more in-country crews. We spent a year remotely directing. This helped the local communities, who had their network and we uncovered this whole ecosystem and talent base around the world.”
That has been a benefit for all sorts of reasons, Mike says, and not only because of reducing the carbon footprint. “These super talented people brought their perspective, which diversifies and broadens the viewpoint. You could argue, who are we as Westerners from the UK to talk about what’s going on in India or Pakistan, whereas when the photographers as storytellers are from there, then that legitimises their perspective more.”
Apex predators
Then there were the classic challenges like shooting sharks. “It is an incredible logistical undertaking because you’re dealing in a tricky environment with dynamic animals, one of which is one of the deadliest predators on the planet. Interestingly, the crew never felt they were in danger. They understand the behavior of sharks who are sophisticated and signal their intentions quite clearly. If you speak shark, you can read their language.”
Talking of predators, in the sequence of the mugger crocodile attacking the deer, which Mike describes as Hitchcockian drama, audience’ sympathy invariably lies with the victim. “The deer is the crocodile’s meal. I once had a letter saying, ‘I watched your programmes but I find it very, very difficult. I just don’t understand why you can’t teach lions to eat grass!’ Four billion years ago, an animal decided to eat another animal and ever since then that’s been the nature of so much life. There are the eaters and the eaten.”
In the pacific waters of the coast of South America, sealions compete for anchovy with one of the largest fisheries in the world. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Ensuring the “Planet Earth tingle” is a high priority for Mike. “Speaking for all of our team, when you watch the show, you feel you’re in the safe hands of skilled storytellers. You know the story is going to be surprising, but satisfying. Whether it’s ‘I wanted it to escape’, or ‘it did escape’, something about the scale and the significance and the way they’re told, makes you feel that you’ve had a privileged experience.”
The planet, Mike says, is wonderful and precious, but fragile. “It is all those three things and that is what Planet Earth reflects.”
Planet Earth III will air on Sony BBC Earth from July 29 at 9 pm and will also be streamed on Sony Liv
The writer was in London on the invitation of Sony BBC Earth
