The ''BBC Wildlife Specials'' are a series of nature documentary programmes commissioned by

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

. The series premiered in 1995, and 22 specials have been produced to date, with most of the more recent ones consisting of multiple episodes. The earlier programmes were produced in-house by the BBC's Natural History Unit, but the more recent ''Spy in the ...'' titles were made by the independent John Downer Productions. The first 18 specials, through 2008, were narrated by

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

. ''Polar Bear: Spy on the Ice'' (2010), ''Penguins: Spy in the Huddle'' (2013) and ''Dolphins: Spy in the Pod'' (2014) were narrated by

David Tennant David John Tennant (''né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show '' Doctor Who'', reprising the rol ...

Broadcast and production history

The ''Wildlife Specials'' have always been broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

. Following the pilot ''

Great White Shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is nota ...

: The True Story of Jaws'', transmitted in 1995, a sequence of six further programmes were broadcast in 1997, as part of the Natural History Unit's 40th anniversary celebrations. Later specials were screened on an intermittent basis, typically at holiday times to attract a family audience. Viewing figures for the 1997 programmes peaked at 9.5 million, for ''

Polar Bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...

: The Arctic Warrior''. Although the animals featured in the specials are frequent documentary subjects, the ''Wildlife Specials'' incorporate the latest filming techniques and scientific research to present the creatures in a new light, as described in the examples below: * During the production of ''Polar Bear: The Arctic Warrior'', the producer and cameraman were trapped on an ice floe for 20 hours, but managed to capture the first scenes of newborn cubs in the den. * In ''

Leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

: The Agent of Darkness'', infrared cameras are used to reveal the cats' previously unseen nocturnal hunting of baboons. * ''

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

: The Master of the Skies'' uses aerial photography to capture dramatic scenes of the birds, including footage of them dropping tortoises from a great height to smash their shells open. Fifteen of the world's sixty species of eagle were filmed for this programme. * A specially constructed, remote-controlled airship was used to capture aerial footage of

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...

s as they breached, scooping thousands of fish into their mouths, for ''Humpback Whale: The Giant of the Oceans''. * ''Lions: Spy in the Den'' was the first special to be commissioned from an independent production company. The filmmakers at John Downer Productions used their previous experience on ground-breaking films such as ''In-Flight Movie'' to develop a range of mobile, remote-controlled cameras. The "Boulder Cam" was disguised as a rock, and enabled the capture of the first footage shot inside a pride's den. This technique was developed further for the later ''Spy in the ...'' specials about elephants and

bear 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 ...

s. * Groundbreaking high-speed photography, x-ray imaging and miniature cameras attached to the heads of

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

s captured footage of new and revealing behaviour in ''Serpent: Through the Eyes of the Snake''. * For the two-part special ''Trek: Spy on the Wildebeest'', cameras disguised as tortoises and crocodiles, and an aerial camera christened "Dragonfly Cam", were developed. * In ''Tiger: Spy in the Jungle'', trained elephants carried and deployed the "Trunk Cam" and "Tusk Cam", whilst the "Log Cam" gathered unique footage of India's jungle wildlife.

Programmes

A list of programme titles with original broadcast date: * ''Great White Shark: The True Story of Jaws'' (1995-04-14) * ''Polar Bear: The Arctic Warrior'' (1997-11-26) * ''Crocodile: The Smiling Predator'' (1997-12-03) * ''Leopard: The Agent of Darkness'' (1997-12-10) * ''Eagle: The Master of the Skies'' (1997-12-17) * ''Humpback Whale: The Giant of the Oceans'' (1997-12-24) * ''Wolf: The Legendary Outlaw'' (1997-12-31) * ''Tiger: The Elusive Princess'' (1999-04-04) * ''Lions: Spy in the Den'' (2000-12-03) * ''Grizzly: Face to Face'' (2001-04-08) * ''Gorillas: On the Trail of King Kong'' (2002-02-03) * ''Serpent: Through the Eyes of the Snake'' (2002-04-10) * ''Killer Whale'' (2003-04-09) * ''Elephants: Spy in the Herd'' (2003-07-20) * ''Smart Sharks: Swimming With Roboshark'' (2003-08-03) * ''Bears: Spy in the Woods'' (2004-11-30) * ''Trek: Spy on the Wildebeest'' : Episode 1: "The Journey" (2007-01-14) : Episode 2: "The Crossing" (2007-01-21) * ''Tiger: Spy in the Jungle'' : Episode 1 (2008-03-30) : Episode 2 (2008-04-06) : Episode 3 (2008-04-13) * ''Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasions'' : Episode 1 (2009-01-04) : Episode 2 (2009-01-11) * ''Polar Bear: Spy on the Ice'' (2010-12-29) : Episode 1 : Episode 2 * ''Penguins: Spy in the Huddle'' : Episode 1: "The Journey" (2013-02-11) : Episode 2: "First Steps" (2013-02-18) : Episode 3: "Growing Up" (2013-02-25) * ''

Dolphins - Spy in the Pod ''Dolphins - Spy in the Pod'' is a British factual television series that was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 January 2014. The two-part series was narrated by David Tennant and produced by John Downer Productions. The series was also broadcas ...

'' : Episode 1 (2014-01-02) : Episode 2 (2014-01-09) * ''Polar Bear, Penguin, Otter, Wallaby, Wombat, Kea: Spy in the Snow'' (2018-12-30)

Awards

* ''Leopard'' won the Award for Innovation at the 1998 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival * ''Polar Bear'' won the Best Factual Photography award at the 1998 BAFTAs * ''Tiger: The Elusive Princess'' won the Best Factual Photography award at the 2000 BAFTAs * A scene of a python swallowing an antelope whole, from ''Serpent'', won Best Factual Moment at the BBC's ''2002 TV Moments'' awards show

Merchandise

To accompany the transmission of the 1997 specials, the hardcover book ''The BBC Natural History Unit's Wildlife Specials'' () was published by Trident Press on 10 November 1997. It includes a foreword by David Attenborough, an introduction by series producer Keith Scholey, and six chapters about the animals featured in those specials, each written by the producer of the programme about that particular animal. On 23 May 2004, four of the early specials, ''Leopard'', ''Eagle'', ''Tiger: The Elusive Princess'', and ''Serpent'', were released on DVD, both individually and as a box set. The first eight specials were released previously on VHS. Other specials were released on DVD later. ''Lions'', ''Elephants'', and ''Bears'' were collectively released as ''The Spy in the ... Collection'' on 2 October 2006. ''Trek'' and ''Tiger: Spy in the Jungle'' were each released separately on 9 June 2008.

References

External links

*
John Downer Productions
{{David Attenborough BBC television documentaries Documentary films about nature 1995 British television series debuts 2008 British television series endings 1990s British documentary television series 2000s British documentary television series 2010 British television series debuts 2010s British documentary television series 2013 British television series endings