Corporate Video Production Sydney: In 1949 Attenborough returned to London and found work as an editor for an educational publisher. The following year he wed Jane Oriel, with whom he would remain married to until her death in 1997, and around that same time began a training program at the BBC. In 1952 Attenborough completed his training and began working for the television station as a producer, thus marking the beginning of what would be a milestone career, both at the BBC and far, far beyond it.
Corporate Video Production Sydney: Expanding Horizons at the BBC
At the BBC, Attenborough faced two obstacles. First, the station had little to no programming devoted to the natural sciences, and second, his boss thought that Attenborough’s teeth were too big for him to be an on-air personality. Despite these hindrances, however, Attenborough persevered, taking small steps forward on the path toward his ultimate destiny. He started out producing the quiz show Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? and then moved on to co-host a program called The Pattern of Animals with naturalist Sir Julian Huxley.
But Attenborough was dissatisfied with the format of shows such as these, which often brought animals out of their natural habitats and into the distressing environment of a television studio. Seeking to break with this unfortunate tradition, in 1954 Attenborough launched a series titled Zoo Quest. The program filmed animals not only in captivity, but also in the wild, with the film crews traveling far and wide to capture images of the animals. With its on-location yet respectfully distant approach to filming wildlife, Zoo Quest established what are now the general standards for nature documentaries. The show was so successful with viewers that in 1957 the BBC established its Natural History Unit.
Corporate Video Production Sydney: Further Study
Despite his growing success, Attenborough left the BBC in early 1960s to study social anthropology at the London School of Economics. When BBC Two was created in 1965, however, Attenborough was asked to return to the station as its controller. In both this capacity and as director of programming for both the BBC and BBC Two, Attenborough continued to collect milestones, pioneering such educational series as The Ascent of Man and Civilisation, overseeing the BBC’s transition to color television and having the wisdom to sign up an oddball comedy series called Monty Python’s Flying Circus, starring John Cleese and Terry Gilliam among others. In recognition of his contributions, in 1970 the British Academy honored him with its Desmond Davis Award. Yet Attenborough could not shake the passion that had remained with him since his youth, and in 1972 he resigned from his post at the BBC to follow his dreams into the wild.
