Alastair David William Fothergill (born 10 April 1960) is a British producer of nature documentaries for television and cinema. He is the series producer of the series ''

The Blue Planet ''The Blue Planet'' is a British nature documentary series created and produced by the BBC. It premiered on 12 September 2001 in the United Kingdom. It is narrated by David Attenborough. Described as "the first ever comprehensive series on t ...

'' (2001), ''

Planet Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...

'' (2006) and the co-director of the associated feature films '' Deep Blue'' and ''

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

''.

Early life and education

Born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Fothergill attended

Orley Farm School Orley Farm School is one of the largest coeducational preparatory day school in the London borough of Harrow, at the foot of Harrow Hill on South Hill Avenue. It was founded as the preparatory school for the nearby Harrow School in 1850 but ...

and Harrow School. He studied

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

St Cuthbert's Society, Durham St Cuthbert's Society, colloquially known as Cuth's, is a college of Durham University. It was founded in 1888 for students who were not attached to the existing colleges. St Cuthbert's Society is a Bailey college, based on Durham's peninsula next ...

at Durham University and made his first film, ''On the Okavango'', while still a student.

Career

Fothergill joined the

BBC Natural History Unit 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 '' ...

in 1983, working on '' The Really Wild Show'', '' Wildlife on One'' and David Attenborough's '' The Trials of Life''. He was appointed head of the Unit in 1992, and during his tenure he produced Attenborough's award-winning series ''

Life in the Freezer ''Life in the Freezer'' is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the United Kingdom from 18 November 1993. A study of the seasonal cycle of Antarctica, it was the first of Attenborou ...

''. He was awarded the Royal Geographical Society's

Cherry Kearton Medal and Award The Cherry Kearton Medal and Award is an honour bestowed by the Royal Geographical Society on "a traveller concerned with the study or practice of natural history, with a preference for those with an interest in nature photography, art or cinemato ...

in 1996. In June 1998, he stood down as head of the Natural History Unit to concentrate on his work as series producer on the multi-award-winning ''The Blue Planet''. In 2006 he completed his next major series ''Planet Earth, which won the

Cinema for Peace The Cinema for Peace Foundation is a registered, non-profit organization based in Berlin, Germany. It supports film-based projects dealing with global humanitarian and environmental issues, and coordinates the Cinema for Peace awards. History The ...

Clean Energy Award at the Cinema for Peace Gala Berlin in 2008.'' More recently he was executive producer of ''Frozen Planet'' (2011) and '' The Hunt'' (2015). He has also presented several television programmes, including ''The Abyss'' and is the author of three books. In 2008, he signed a multi-picture deal with newly formed

Disneynature Disneynature is an independent film studio that specializes in the production of nature documentary films for The Walt Disney Studios. The production company was founded on April 21, 2008, and is headquartered in Paris, France. The company's n ...

, and now spends six months each year on sabbatical from the BBC developing feature documentaries as an independent producer. The first few titles under the Disneynature deal had been, for now, ''

African Cats ''African Cats'' (known as ''Felines'' in France) is a 2011 nature documentary film about a pride of lions and a family of cheetahs trying to survive in the African savannah directed by Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey. The film was released ...

'' (2011), '' Chimpanzee'' (2012), ''

Bears Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

'' (2014), ''

Penguins Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapt ...

'' (2019), ''

Dolphin Reef Dolphin Reef is a horseshoe-shaped sea-pen where bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf of Eilat in the northern-eastern Red Sea near the city of Eilat in southern Israel swim in and out of. It is a major tourist attraction in this area. History Th ...

'' (2020), and '' Polar Bear'' (2022) co-directed with

Keith Scholey Keith Scholey (born 24 June 1957 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) is a British producer of nature documentaries for television and cinema, and a former television executive. He is the joint series producer of the Netflix original documentary series ...

Mark Linfield Mark Linfield (born 6 June 1968) is a British writer, producer and director of nature documentaries for cinema and television. He is best known for his work with the BBC Natural History Unit as a producer of two episodes of the television series ...

, and Jeff Wilson. In 2016, Fothergill was made a Fellow of the Royal Television Society for his work in natural history programming. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to film.

Personal life

Fothergill lives in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

with his wife Melinda (née Barker) and two sons, Hamish and William.

Film and television credits

* '' The Really Wild Show'' (1986) – producer * ''Wild Britain'' (1987) – producer * ''Reefwatch'' (1988) – associate producer * '' Wildlife on One'' (1988–92) – producer * '' The Trials of Life'' (1990) – assistant producer * ''

'' (1993) –series producer * ''

Natural World ''Natural World'' is a strand of British wildlife documentary programmes broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Two HD and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history series. It is the longest-running documentary in its genre on British televis ...

'', episode "South Georgia: An Island All Alone" (1998) – producer * ''

'' (2001) – series producer * ''Going Ape'' (2002) – presenter (with

Saba Douglas-Hamilton Saba Iassa Douglas-Hamilton (born 7 June 1970) is a Kenyan wildlife conservationist and television presenter. She has worked for a variety of conservation charities, and has appeared in wildlife documentaries produced by the BBC and other br ...

) * ''The Abyss – Live'' (2002–2003) – executive dog and presenter (with Michael deGruy,

Kate Humble Katherine Mary Humble (born 12 December 1968) is an English television presenter and narrator, mainly working for the BBC, specialising in wildlife and science programmes. Humble served as President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Bi ...

and

Peter Snow Peter John Snow (born 20 April 1938) is a British radio and television presenter and historian. Between 1969 and 2005, he was an analyst of general election results, first on ITV and later for the BBC. He presented ''Newsnight'' from its la ...

) * '' Deep Blue'' (2003) – writer and director (with Andy Byatt) * ''

'' (2006) – series producer * ''

'' (2006) – writer and director (with

) * ''

Frozen Planet ''Frozen Planet'' is a 2011 British nature documentary series, co-produced by the BBC and The Open University. It was filmed by the BBC Natural History Unit. The production team, which includes executive producer Alastair Fothergill and ser ...

'' (2011) – executive producer * ''

'' (2011) – writer and director (with Keith Scholey) * '' Chimpanzee'' (2012) – writer and director (with Mark Linfield) * ''

'' (2021) - director (with Keith Scholey) * '' The Hunt'' (2015) – executive producer * ''

Our Planet ''Our Planet'' is a British nature documentary series made for Netflix. The series is narrated by David Attenborough and produced by Silverback Films, led by Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey, who also created BBC documentary series ''Plane ...

'' (2019) - executive producer * ''

'' (2019) – director (with Jeff Wilson) * '' Polar Bear'' (2022) – director (with Jeff Wilson) * ''

'' (2013) - director (with

) * '' David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet'' (2020) - executive producer

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fothergill, Alastair 1960 births British television producers Alumni of St Cuthbert's Society, Durham Living people People educated at Harrow School Fellows of the Royal Television Society Officers of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Royal Geographical Society Patron's Medal