BBC Studios earlier this month held its 46th annual Showcase, an exclusive, invitation-only TV market again this year. For the second successive year, it was a virtual-only Showcase.
The three-day event aims to give global TV and streaming platform buyers the opportunity to discuss early-stage projects and ideas with leading British creatives and producers from both indie partners and BBC Studios’ production teams.
One of the key players when it comes to sort-after BBC Studios executives is creative director and executive producer at the Natural History Unit, Mike Gunton. In just over 12 months, Gunton will be celebrating four decades with the BBC.
The documentary maker and key content decision-maker is best known for his work with David Attenborough but Gunton has an impressive list of credits we couldn’t do justice to here.
New at BBC Showcase from Natural History Unit
A key feature at Showcase this year was a session exploring the upcoming Frozen Planet II which will be hosted by Attenborough. Eleven years since the first series, the production team shared exclusive on-location footage highlighting how the series will take viewers to unexpected places and introduce new characters.
Mediaweek spoke to Gunton while he was in London to attend Showcase.
“I have two jobs really. My official title is creative director, but I actually spend a good bit of time working as an executive producer. I’m in the office a lot more than I used to be, but I try and get into the field as much as I can.”
Gunton told Mediaweek it’s important to visit his productions as often as possible. “If I am looking after production teams, I feel I need to share the trials and tribulations of what it’s like to make these shows.”
Sir David Attenborough and The Green Planet
“On The Green Planet, and because David Attenborough is in it so much, and because I have worked with him for around 30 years, I produced nearly all his segments and spent a lot of time travelling with him. It was great and a little like getting the band back together.”
Gunton said much of The Green Planet was worked on during Covid. Much of the filming was done at Kew Gardens which just happens to be 10 minutes from where the legendary natural history host Attenborough lives. “We ended up doing slightly more UK filming than originally intended,” admitted Gunton.
“Luckily we had planned much of the international filming for 2019 [pre-Covid] and we got all that done. Those countries included North and South America, Croatia and Finland.”
The Green Planet was in a way the most ambitious project the BBC Natural History Unit had undertaken.
Gunton: “If the most recent thing you have done isn’t the most ambitious, and the thing you are most proud of, then you might be thinking to yourself, ‘What am I doing?’
Mike Gunton
“There is something extraordinarily satisfying about The Green Planet and I am extremely proud of the project. Partly because I like proving people wrong.
“When I claimed we would do a BBC One landmark series on plants you could see people at the BBC Showcase being a little doubtful it could work. There were a number of boxes we successfully ticked including, could we make a series about the fragility of the planet without making people utterly depressed?
“It could have so easily just been a load of plants wiggling around on the screen, but it is so much more than that.
“The original ambition was to remind people of the importance of plants and how much we depend on them. We wanted to educate, entertain, and inform. Through the prism of the TV show, we were able to make a statement about something we thought was very important. The value of plants as our ally in nature-based solutions to the challenges the planet is facing is what we were able to show.”
#OurGreenPlanet
The BBC more recently launched a UK campaign #OurGreenPlanet which goes deeper into the science of what the series discusses and it also shows a little more about how the show was filmed.
“There are a number of associated initiatives around the world to conserve and understand how to help plants be a more powerful and effective agent in dealing with challenges the planet is facing,” said Gunton.
The Green Planet AR experience
The Green Planet AR Experience was recently staged in Regent Street in London and offered guests a window into the secret kingdom of plants through an immersive augmented reality journey accompanied by a virtual David Attenborough transformed into a 3D hologram.
Dynasties II – Meerkats
Next from Natural History Unit
Another series of Dynasties, Dynasties II, is being released this year with five new animal stories. “The Puma episode is just the most extraordinary piece of filmmaking,” said Gunton.
“We are also working on Planet Earth 3 which will be coming in two years’ time.
“Projects have now been commissioned for the next five years and we have a big slate ahead of us.” Other new series coming include Kingdoms and Our Changing Planet.
The BBC production chief said there is a very healthy filmmaking environment at present. “The appetite for natural history programs is huge. Audiences want thought-provoking programming, not just jaws and claws.”