Alastair Fothergill


Alastair David William Fothergill is a British producer of nature documentaries for television and cinema. He is the series producer of the series The Blue Planet, [Planet Earth (2007 film)|Earth (2006 TV series)|Planet Earth] and the co-director of the associated feature films Deep Blue and Earth.

Early life and education

Born in London, Fothergill attended Orley Farm School and Harrow School. He studied zoology at St Cuthbert's Society, Durham at Durham University and made his first film, On the Okavango, while still a student.

Career

Fothergill joined the BBC Natural History Unit in 1983, working on The Really Wild Show, Wildlife on One and David Attenborough'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's Cherry Kearton Medal and Award 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 and The Hunt.
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. The first few titles under the Disneynature deal had been, for now, African Cats, Chimpanzee, Bears, Penguins, Dolphin Reef, and Polar Bear co-directed with Keith Scholey, Mark Linfield, 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 and the BBC.
In 2016, Fothergill was made a Fellow of the Royal Television Society for his work in natural history programming. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to film.

Personal life

Fothergill lives in Bristol with his wife Melinda and two sons, Hamish and William.

Film and television credits

The Really Wild Show – producerWild Britain – producerReefwatch – associate producerWildlife on One – producerThe Trials of Life – assistant producerLife in the Freezer – series producerNatural World, episode "South Georgia: An Island All Alone" – producerThe Blue Planet – series producerGoing Ape – presenter The Abyss – Live – executive dog and presenter Deep Blue – writer and director Planet Earth – series producerEarth – writer and director Frozen Planet – executive producerAfrican Cats – writer and director Chimpanzee – writer and director Bears – director The Hunt – executive producerOur Planet – executive producerPenguins – director Dolphin Reef – director David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet – director and executive producer Polar Bear – director Life on Our Planet – executive producer