Ocean With David Attenborough: ‘A master storyteller’

Directors of the documentary, Ocean With David Attenborough, Keith Scholey and Colin Butfield, speak of all the things David Attenborough brings to the table from trust and passion to refining the script and incredible pieces to camera

There is no stopping David Attenborough. As the legendary broadcaster and natural historian turned 99 in May, he shares an important message on how the health of our oceans has a direct impact on our lives in a feature-length documentary, Ocean With David Attenborough.“After living for nearly a hundred years on this planet, I now understand that the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea,” he says.

Directed by seasoned conservationists, Toby Nowlan, Keith Scholey and Colin Butfield, Ocean With David Attenborough was shot over two years around the world, including the Azores (Portugal), California, Indonesia, the U.K., Liberia, Antarctica, the Mediterranean and Hawaii. The film premieres on National Geographic on World Oceans Day on June 8.

Working with Attenborough was an absolute privilege, Colin says over a video call from London. “He’s a master storyteller. He’s had a life that spans the narrative of the film, witnessing all the great ocean discoveries as well as the destruction.”

Attenborough was embedded through the film, Colin says. “We worked with him to develop and refine the script. He wrote these incredible pieces to camera. You can sense his passion for the ocean, as well as his great authority. People understand and trust him,” he adds. The ability to tell a story of that quality was fundamental to the film, Colin says. “We definitely could not make this film without him.”

While shoots on this scale come with innumerable heart-stopping moments, one particular shoot in the Azores Islands is burned into Keith’s brain. “We were trying to film these big bait balls where whale, sharks, and dolphins come to feed,” Keith says over a video call from Bristol. “There’s one amazing moment when our underwater cameraman, Doug Anderson, jumped into the mayhem.”

As Anderson was filming, Keith says, a huge sei whale came at him. “That’s the third-biggest whale in the world. Doug just picks this perfect shot, and you see the whale going past him, you can see the whale’s tail coming at him, but he just held the shot. It’s a remarkable scene.”

Being able to show people parts of the world they’ve never seen is part of the joy of creating Nature documentaries, Colin says. “One of the exciting things here was, how do you reveal an ocean in a way that feels truly immersive? With towering kelp forests and gorgeous coral reefs, you’ve got an incredible Natural world to play with here and be able to show and delight people.”