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'' (2001), ''

Planet Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all of Earth's water is ...

'' (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 Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

''.

Early life and education

Born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Fothergill attended

Orley Farm School Orley Farm School is one of the largest coeducational preparatory day schools in the London borough of Harrow, at the foot of Harrow Hill on South Hill Avenue. The school grounds cover . Orley Farm was founded in 1850 as the preparatory sch ...

and

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

. He studied

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, 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 ...

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

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 '' T ...

in 1983, working on '' The Really Wild Show'', '' Wildlife on One'' and

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

'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''. He was awarded the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

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 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 five 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 Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. Disneynature was founded on April ...

. 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 The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...

'' (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 most o ...

'' (2014), ''

Penguins Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

'' (2019), ''

Dolphin Reef Dolphins Reef advertises the following activities that they claim focus mainly on dolphins and conserving them -Swimming with dolphins, diving lessons, guided tours, lectures and workshops and an information centre . History The Dolphin Reef opened ...

'' (2020), and ''

Polar Bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can Hybrid (biology), interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear ...

'' (2022) co-directed with

Keith Scholey Keith Scholey (born 24 June 1957 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) is a British producer of nature documentary, nature documentaries for television and cinema, and a former television executive. He is currently a joint Director of Silverback Films Ltd ...

Mark Linfield Mark Linfield (born 6 June 1968) is a British writer, producer and director of nature documentary, 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 th ...

, and Jeff Wilson. In 2012 he left the BBC to co-found Silverback Films with Keith Scholey. Silverback Films makes landmark natural history series for a variety of clients including Netflix ( Our Planet, Our Planet 2 and Life On Our Planet) and the BBC ( The Mating Game and Wild Isles). In 2016, Fothergill was made a Fellow of the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

for his work in natural history programming. He was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the

2019 Birthday Honours The 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as ...

for services to film.

Personal life

Fothergill lives in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

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 * '' Life in the Freezer'' (1993) – series producer * '' Natural World'', episode "South Georgia: An Island All Alone" (1998) – producer * '' The Blue Planet'' (2001) – series producer * ''Going Ape'' (2002) – presenter (with Saba Douglas-Hamilton) * ''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 Bir ...

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 lau ...

) * '' 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. It was produced as a co-production between the BBC Natural History Unit, Discovery Channel, Antena 3 Television S.A., ZDF, Skai tv and The Open University, in association with Dis ...

'' (2011) – executive producer * ''

'' (2011) – writer and director (with

) * ''

'' (2012) – writer and director (with Mark Linfield) * ''

'' (2014) – director (with Keith Scholey) * '' The Hunt'' (2015) – executive producer * '' Our Planet'' (2019) – executive producer * ''

'' (2019) – director (with Jeff Wilson) * ''

'' (2020) – director (with Keith Scholey) * '' David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet'' (2020) – director and executive producer (with Keith Scholey) * ''

'' (2022) – director (with Jeff Wilson) * '' Life on Our Planet'' – executive producer (with

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

, Keith Scholey, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey)

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