Neil Nightingale
Encyclopedia
Neil Nightingale is a senior producer at the BBC
's Natural History Unit
, the largest wildlife film-making
production unit in the world, and was its Head from February 2003 until January 2009. In November 2009 his successor, Andrew Jackson, appointed him to the new position of creative director of BBC Earth, alongside his programme production rôle.
and graduated with a first class degree in zoology
. After working as a freelance science journalist for New Scientist
, he joined the BBC
in 1983 as a researcher and assistant producer in a variety of television genres, including current affairs, regional programmes, science and education.
His first natural history production credits were for a number of programmes in the Wildlife on One
series. He later moved on to the challenges of engaging audiences with series on fossil
s and plant
s, both collaborations with veteran broadcaster David Attenborough
.
In 1995, Nightingale took on the role of Series Editor for The Natural World, BBC Two
's long-running flagship natural history series. Under his editorship, The Natural Worlds programmes won awards at every major international wildlife film festival as well as the Royal Television Society
award for Best Documentary Strand.
He went on to produce several series in the Continents strand for BBC Two, including Wild Africa
and Wild Down Under
, before replacing Keith Scholey as Head of the Unit in 2003.
Under his leadership, the Unit developed its reputation for innovative and ambitious natural history broadcasting. He oversaw well-received television series including Planet Earth
(2006), Springwatch (2005) and Wild China
(2008) as well as the Unit's largest-ever radio production, World on the Move (2008) which followed migrating animals. He also moved the Unit into the field of feature films with Deep Blue (2003) and Earth
(2007), both spin-offs from successful television series.
In January 2009 the BBC announced that Nightingale was to stand down after six years as Head of the Unit to return to programme making. He was succeeded in the rôle by Andrew Jackson. He is currently producing Great Barrier Reef, a three-part series for BBC Two
due to air in 2012.
Nightingale is a co-founder and the current vice chairman of the BBC Wildlife Fund, a conservation charity established in 2007. Its first appeal raised £1.7 million for endangered species
conservation, and it has funded almost 50 projects in the UK and around the world. Nightingale is also a trustee of Wildscreen
, a charity which organises the biennial wildlife film festival of the same name in Bristol
. Its ARKive
project aims to create an online database of all the world's species.
, a long-time collaborator with the NHU.
The following year, Nightingale defended the Unit against accusations of profligacy with regard to the production costs of the Big Cat Live
series. According to newspaper reports, a production team of 94 people was based in a luxury hotel in Kenya
during three weeks of filming. The budget for Big Cat Live has not been made public.
Film techniques used by the Natural History Unit came under close scrutiny in 2008 following a number of scandals in which other programme-making departments in the BBC were revealed to have deceived viewers. Examples of the use of tame animals ( a red fox
in The Nature of Britain
) and studio sets (deep sea life in The Blue Planet
) to simulate footage from the wild were brought to light. Nightingale rebutted accusations of misleading viewers, arguing that it is almost impossible to film certain sequences in the wild and that the Unit is open about its methods.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Natural History Unit
BBC Natural History Unit
The BBC Natural History Unit is a department of the BBC dedicated to making television and radio programmes with a natural history or wildlife theme, especially nature documentaries...
, the largest wildlife film-making
Nature documentary
A natural history film or wildlife film is a documentary film about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on film taken in their natural habitat...
production unit in the world, and was its Head from February 2003 until January 2009. In November 2009 his successor, Andrew Jackson, appointed him to the new position of creative director of BBC Earth, alongside his programme production rôle.
Career
Nightingale attended the University of OxfordUniversity of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
and graduated with a first class degree in zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
. After working as a freelance science journalist for New Scientist
New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
, he joined the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in 1983 as a researcher and assistant producer in a variety of television genres, including current affairs, regional programmes, science and education.
His first natural history production credits were for a number of programmes in the Wildlife on One
Wildlife on One
Wildlife on One was the BBC's flagship natural history programme, first broadcast in 1977. Each programme ran for half an hour. The narrator was Sir David Attenborough. When repeated on BBC2, the programmes were retitled Wildlife on Two. The programme was terminated in 2005.The 2003 season...
series. He later moved on to the challenges of engaging audiences with series on fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s and plant
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
s, both collaborations with veteran broadcaster David Attenborough
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
.
In 1995, Nightingale took on the role of Series Editor for The Natural World, BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
's long-running flagship natural history series. Under his editorship, The Natural Worlds programmes won awards at every major international wildlife film festival as well as the Royal Television Society
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society 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...
award for Best Documentary Strand.
He went on to produce several series in the Continents strand for BBC Two, including Wild Africa
Wild Africa
Wild Africa is a BBC nature documentary series exploring the natural history of the African continent, first transmitted in the UK on BBC2 in November 2001.The series comprises six episodes. Each concentrates on a particular environment...
and Wild Down Under
Wild Down Under
Wild Down Under is a BBC nature documentary series exploring the natural history of the Australasian continent, first transmitted in the UK on BBC Two in September 2003...
, before replacing Keith Scholey as Head of the Unit in 2003.
Under his leadership, the Unit developed its reputation for innovative and ambitious natural history broadcasting. He oversaw well-received television series including Planet Earth
Planet Earth (TV series)
Planet Earth is a 2006 television series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit. Five years in the making, it was the most expensive nature documentary series ever commissioned by the BBC, and also the first to be filmed in high definition...
(2006), Springwatch (2005) and Wild China
Wild China
Wild China is a six-part nature documentary series on the natural history of China, co-produced by the BBC Natural History Unit and China Central Television and filmed entirely in high-definition . It was screened in the UK on BBC Two from 11 May to 5 June 2008...
(2008) as well as the Unit's largest-ever radio production, World on the Move (2008) which followed migrating animals. He also moved the Unit into the field of feature films with Deep Blue (2003) and Earth
Earth (2007 film)
Earth is a 2007 nature documentary film which depicts the diversity of wild habitats and creatures across the planet. The film begins in the Arctic in January of one year and moves south, finishing in Antarctica in the December of the same year...
(2007), both spin-offs from successful television series.
In January 2009 the BBC announced that Nightingale was to stand down after six years as Head of the Unit to return to programme making. He was succeeded in the rôle by Andrew Jackson. He is currently producing Great Barrier Reef, a three-part series for BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
due to air in 2012.
Nightingale is a co-founder and the current vice chairman of the BBC Wildlife Fund, a conservation charity established in 2007. Its first appeal raised £1.7 million for endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
conservation, and it has funded almost 50 projects in the UK and around the world. Nightingale is also a trustee of Wildscreen
Wildscreen
Wildscreen is an educational charity based in Bristol, England, working globally to promote the conservation of nature, and the public’s appreciation of biodiversity, through wildlife imagery....
, a charity which organises the biennial wildlife film festival of the same name in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. Its ARKive
ARKive
ARKive is a global initiative with the mission of "promoting the conservation of the world's threatened species, through the power of wildlife imagery", which it does by locating and gathering films, photographs and audio recordings of the world's species into a centralised digital archive. Its...
project aims to create an online database of all the world's species.
Defending criticism
As Head of the Natural History Unit, Nightingale faced down criticism over the issues of viewer deception and value for money for licence fee payers. In 2007, because of a lower than expected licence fee settlement, the BBC announced major cutbacks across its factual production departments, including budget and staff cuts at the Natural History Unit. This move was criticized by veteran broadcaster David AttenboroughDavid Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
, a long-time collaborator with the NHU.
The following year, Nightingale defended the Unit against accusations of profligacy with regard to the production costs of the Big Cat Live
Big Cat Diary
Big Cat Diary, also known as Big Cat Week or Big Cat Live, is a long-running nature documentary series on BBC television which follows the lives of African big cats in Kenya's Maasai Mara. The first series, broadcast on BBC One in 1996, was developed and jointly produced by Keith Scholey, who would...
series. According to newspaper reports, a production team of 94 people was based in a luxury hotel in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
during three weeks of filming. The budget for Big Cat Live has not been made public.
Film techniques used by the Natural History Unit came under close scrutiny in 2008 following a number of scandals in which other programme-making departments in the BBC were revealed to have deceived viewers. Examples of the use of tame animals ( a red fox
Red Fox
The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
in The Nature of Britain
The Nature of Britain
The Nature of Britain is a nature documentary series made for British television by the BBC Natural History Unit. It was first broadcast on BBC1 in October and November 2007...
) and studio sets (deep sea life in The Blue Planet
The Blue Planet
The Blue Planet is a BBC nature documentary series narrated by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 12 September 2001.Described as "the first ever comprehensive series on the natural history of the world's oceans", each of the eight 50-minute episodes examines a different aspect of...
) to simulate footage from the wild were brought to light. Nightingale rebutted accusations of misleading viewers, arguing that it is almost impossible to film certain sequences in the wild and that the Unit is open about its methods.
Natural history TV and film credits
- Great Barrier Reef (in production) - executive producer
- One Life (2011) - executive producer
- Unnatural HistoriesUnnatural Histories (TV series)Unnatural Histories is a 3-part British television documentary series produced by the BBC and BBC Natural History Unit. It takes a new look at three of the world's most iconic wildernesses; the Serengeti, Yellowstone National Park and the Amazon and discovers that far from being wild and untouched,...
(2011) - executive producer - The MeerkatsThe MeerkatsThe Meerkats is a feature-length 2008 British wildlife fiction film which anthropomorphises the daily struggles of a clan of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert. It was produced by BBC Films and The Weinstein Company, and filmed by the award-winning BBC Natural History Unit...
(2008) – executive producer - Wild Down UnderWild Down UnderWild Down Under is a BBC nature documentary series exploring the natural history of the Australasian continent, first transmitted in the UK on BBC Two in September 2003...
(2003) – executive producer - Wild New World (2002) – executive producer
- Wild AfricaWild AfricaWild Africa is a BBC nature documentary series exploring the natural history of the African continent, first transmitted in the UK on BBC2 in November 2001.The series comprises six episodes. Each concentrates on a particular environment...
(2001) – executive producer - CongoCongo (BBC TV series)Congo is a 2001 BBC nature documentary series for television on the natural history of the Congo River of Central Africa. In three episodes, the series explores the variety of animals and habitats that are to be found along the river’s 4,700 km reach.Congo was produced for the BBC Natural History...
(2001) – executive producer - Wild Battlefields (2002–2003) – executive producer
- BBC Wildlife SpecialsBBC Wildlife SpecialsThe BBC Wildlife Specials are a series of nature documentary programmes commissioned by BBC Television. The Wildlife Specials began with a pilot episode in 1995. A further 15 programmes were made over the next decade, and more recently the format has been expanded into two short series...
– executive producer
- Episode "Elephants: Spy in the Herd" (2003)
- Episode "Gorilla: On the Trail of King Kong" (2002)
- Episode "Grizzly: Face to Face" (2001)
- Episode "Lions: Spy in the Den" (2000)
- Episode "Tiger" (1999)
- "Dive to Shark City" (1999) – executive producer
- Natural World – series editor (1996–2001)
- "Restless Year" (1996) - producer
- The Private Life of PlantsThe Private Life of PlantsThe Private Life of Plants is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first shown in the UK from 11 January 1995....
(1995) – producer - "New Guinea: An Island Apart" (1993) - producer
- "Portrait of a Planet" (1990) – producer
- Lost Worlds, Vanished LivesLost Worlds, Vanished LivesLost Worlds, Vanished Lives is a four-part BBC documentary series concerning the discovery of fossils. It is written and presented by David Attenborough, produced by Mike Salisbury, and was originally broadcast in April 1989....
(1989) - producer - Wildlife on OneWildlife on OneWildlife on One was the BBC's flagship natural history programme, first broadcast in 1977. Each programme ran for half an hour. The narrator was Sir David Attenborough. When repeated on BBC2, the programmes were retitled Wildlife on Two. The programme was terminated in 2005.The 2003 season...
– producer
- Episode "Lost Lakes of the Pacific" (1996)
- Episode "Babies Beware" (1992)
- Episode "Parrot Fashion" (1989)
- Episode "The Tale of the Pregnant Male" (1988)