Judith Ann Bunting (born 27 November 1960) is a television producer and politician who served as a

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) for the

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...

from 2019 to 2020. In 2014, she was chosen by the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...

to be one of their 175 Faces of Chemistry.

Education

Bunting attended

Peterborough County Grammar School for Girls The Peterborough County Grammar School for Girls was an all-female grammar school in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. History Peterborough County School for Girls The school which was to become Peterborough County Grammar School for Girl ...

, then

Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college traces its origins back to 1869 and the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of all ...

, where she obtained a Master's Degree in Natural Sciences (Chemistry) in 1979. Her father taught Mechanical Engineering at

Peterborough Regional College Peterborough College, established in 1946 as Peterborough Technical College, is a major further education college in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. History Engineering firms Peter Brotherhood and Baker Perkins relocated to Pete ...

Career

Television

Bunting has been a producer of educational and science-based documentary television since the 1990s. Her early producing credits include the BBC series ''

Tomorrow's World ''Tomorrow's World'' is a former British television series about contemporary developments in science and technology. First transmitted on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003. The ''Tomorro ...

'', ''Teen Species'', ''

Horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

'' and

Robert Winston Robert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston, (born 15 July 1940) is a British professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and Labour Party politician. Early life Robert Winston was born in London to Laurence Winston and Rut ...

s ''The Secret Life of Twins'' and ''Superhuman''. She produced three series of the series '' Body Hits'' and the

RTS RTS may refer to: Medicine * Rape trauma syndrome, the psychological trauma experienced by a rape victim * Revised Trauma Score, a system to evaluate injuries secondary to violent trauma * Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, a condition characterized by ...

Award-winning ''Breast Cancer - the Operation'' for BBC3. In 2007, she was series producer for the BBC Wales series, '' The Museum''. She followed this by executive producing '' Rocket Science'' for BBC2 and ''Headshrinkers of the Amazon'' for the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

. Her 2009 documentary for the National Geographic Channel, ''The Neanderthal Code'' was nominated for a

Grierson Award The Grierson Awards are awards set up by The Grierson Trust to recognise innovative and exciting documentary films, created to commemorate the life and work of the pioneering Scottish documentary filmmaker John Grierson. The inaugural Awards w ...

for Best Science Documentary. Since 2013, Bunting has been series producer for production company Remark! on over 30 episodes of ''Magic Hands'', a programme for

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older childr ...

featuring poetry and Shakespeare for children translated entirely into

British Sign Language British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK), and is the first or preferred language among the Deaf community in the UK. Based on the percentage of people who reported 'using British Sign Language at home' on ...

, in which the presenters are all profoundly deaf.

Politics

Since 2012, Bunting has increasingly focused on politics. In the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

UK General Elections, she stood as the

candidate for Newbury and both times came a distant second behind

Richard Benyon Richard Henry Ronald Benyon, Baron Benyon (born 21 October 1960) is a British politician who has served as Minister of State for Biosecurity, Marine and Rural Affairs since 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament ...

. She has consistently pursued a broader engagement with science in politics and education. In September 2017, Bunting ruled out a third run as the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Newbury to "focus on her career as a television producer". Bunting was elected as a Liberal Democrat MEP for the

in the 2019 European Elections. She was the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Education and Culture in Europe, and also sat on the Industry, Research and Energy committee.

Personal life

She lives in

Newbury, Berkshire Newbury is a market town in the county of Berkshire, England, and is home to the administrative headquarters of West Berkshire Council. The town centre around its large market square retains a rare medieval Cloth Hall, an adjoining half timbere ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunting, Judith Living people category:1960 births Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge British television producers BBC television producers British women television producers Horizon (British TV series) Liberal Democrats (UK) parliamentary candidates Liberal Democrats (UK) MEPs MEPs for England 2019–2020 People from Newbury, Berkshire People from Peterborough 21st-century women MEPs for England