Life in Cold Blood

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''Life in Cold Blood'' is a

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nature documentary A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on video taken in their natural habitat but also often including footage of t ...

series written and presented by David Attenborough, first broadcast in the United Kingdom from 4 February 2008 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, ...

. A study of the evolution and habits of amphibians and reptiles, it is the sixth and last of Attenborough's specialised surveys following his major trilogy that began with '' Life on Earth'', hence a ninth part for the eight series in '' The Life Collection''. The series comprises five 50-minute programmes, each one followed by ''Under the Skin'', a 10-minute section that features Attenborough interviewing the scientists whose work has led to the sequences included in the main programme. It also examines the challenges faced by the crew and reveals some of the techniques used to film the series.BBC Press Office: ''Life in Cold Blood''
/ref> The series is a co-production between the

...
and

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily ...

. The executive producer is Sara Ford and the series producer is Miles Barton. The ''Under the Skin'' segments were produced by James Brickell in collaboration with the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

. The score for the main films was composed by David Poore and Ben Salisbury, whilst the music for ''Under the Skin'' was written and performed by Tony Briscoe. The series won the 2009 BAFTA Television Award in the Specialist Factual category. Within David Attenborough's 'Life' series, it is preceded by '' Life in the Undergrowth'' (2005).

Background

Filming began in the early part of 2006 and, as with Attenborough's previous series, the production team travelled the world to photograph the required sequences. In May 2006, Attenborough celebrated his 80th birthday in the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands (Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuador ...

while filming

giant tortoise Giant tortoises are any of several species of various large land tortoises, which include a number of extinct species, as well as two extant species with multiple subspecies formerly common on the islands of the western Indian Ocean and on the ...

s, one of which, called

Lonesome George Lonesome George ( es, Solitario George or , 1910 – June 24, 2012) was a male Pinta Island tortoise (''Chelonoidis niger abingdonii'') and the last known individual of the subspecies. In his last years, he was known as the rarest creat ...

, was thought to be the same age. Lonesome George died on 24 June 2012; he was believed to have been more than 100 years old. Several innovative techniques were used to capture footage.

Thermal imaging Infrared thermography (IRT), thermal video and/or thermal imaging, is a process where a thermal camera captures and creates an image of an object by using infrared radiation emitted from the object in a process, which are examples of infrared i ...

cameras were used to demonstrate the creatures' variable body temperatures, probe cameras allowed access to underground habitats and even a matchbox-sized one was attached to the shell of a

tortoise Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like oth ...

.BBC Science and Nature: ''Life in Cold Blood'' filming techniques
/ref> Expert scientists helped the producers to film animal behaviour that is rarely seen. The team 'staked out' radiotagged

timber rattlesnake The timber rattlesnake, canebrake rattlesnake, or banded rattlesnake (''Crotalus horridus'') Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a division of ...

s in order to witness one of them despatching its prey. However, for Attenborough's close encounter with a spitting cobra, a captive snake that was used to being handled was placed in a natural setting and the presenter wore a face visor. Other examples of 'pets' being used were for sequences depicting the lassoing tongue of a chameleon (which had to be filmed at ultra-high speed) and the digestive system of a

python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (pro ...

(which was enhanced by computer-generated imagery). ''Life in Cold Blood'' is Attenborough's last major series and also represents the final study in his 'Life' series, which comprises 79 programmes. In a 2008 interview, he stated:

The evolutionary history is finished. The endeavour is complete. If you'd asked me 20 years ago whether we'd be attempting such a mammoth task, I'd have said 'Don't be ridiculous'. These programmes tell a particular story and I'm sure others will come along and tell it much better than I did, but I do hope that if people watch it in 50 years' time, it will still have something to say about the world we live in.

However, although Attenborough was 81 years old at the time of the series' broadcast, he continued to assist the BBC Natural History Unit by providing narration for projects such as ''

Nature's Great Events ''Nature's Great Events'' is a wildlife documentary series made for BBC television, first shown in the UK on BBC One and BBC HD in February 2009. The series looks at how seasonal changes powered by the sun cause shifting weather patterns and oce ...

'', ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'' and ''

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 ...

''. Attenborough confirmed on the penultimate edition of ''Parkinson'', broadcast on 16 December 2007, that he did not intend to retire completely and would still make occasional single documentaries, rather than any more series.

Episodes

DVD and book

A 2-disc DVD set of the series (BBCDVD2553) was released on 25 February 2008. The accompanying 288-page book, ''Life in Cold Blood'' by David Attenborough (), was published by

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasti ...

on 7 December 2007, in advance of the television series.BBC Shop: ''Life in Cold Blood'' book
/ref> The Region 1 DVD was released on 5 August 2008 (S.R.P. $34.98) through Warner Home Video.

References

Citations

Other sources

Queens of the Web

Tim Flannery Timothy Fridtjof Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, conservationist, explorer, author, science communicator, activist and public scientist. He was awarded Australian of the Yea ...

review from ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...

External links

*
''Life in Cold Blood''
at

BBC Online BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...

''Life in Cold Blood''
on the Eden website *
''Under the Skin''
at the

's Open2.net site
BBC on YouTube: David Attenborough face to face with a spitting cobra
{{DEFAULTSORT:Life in Cold Blood 2000s British documentary television series 2008 British television series debuts 2008 British television series endings BBC television documentaries Documentary films about nature Nature educational television series Television series by BBC Studios Animal Planet original programming Television series about reptiles and amphibians