David Attenborough London documentary wanted to ‘rebrand’ rats
Showcasing that a population of non-native constrictor snakes live in central London wasn’t enough for the makers of David Attenborough’s recent London documentary, who have revealed that they also wanted to “rebrand” the capital’s rats.
Some estimates suggest there could be 20 million rats in the capital, and it is every Londoner’s worst nightmare to find one cohabiting with them in a kitchen cupboard or floorboard.
The capital’s foxes, birds of prey, hedgehogs, fallow deer, Tube-riding pigeons, bats and mice featured in Wild London, but director Joe Loncraine has said the vermin would have made a great addition.
Inside the filming of David Attenborough documentary
“I actually would have quite liked to have put rats in,” he said, speaking at a Q+A about the film in partnership with Investec. “I think we might have been able to do for rats what we hopefully did for foxes and pigeons. A little bit of rebranding. They’re really smart animals. ”
But the show’s creatives said there were “only so many stories they could include” in the 58-minute documentary, so some, including the rats, had to be cut.
Another animal they hoped to include were the seahorses living in the Thames. The animals have been found near The Globe theatre on the Southbank but filming them would have been a challenge. “The water’s not really clear enough, but even if we had tanks to show their behaviour, they dance, males get pregnant and give birth,” says Loncraine. “That would have been quite amazing. I would have loved to have done that.”
The process of choosing which animals made the final cut was overseen by Sir David Attenborough, and the final decisions were based around which animals had the best story arcs. One gripping scene shows a baby fox cowering in shrubbery as off-lead dogs attempt to sniff them out in parkland.
Gaby Bastyra, executive producer at Passion Planet who produced the documentary, said Sir David “doesn’t feel the need” to cover the same topics he’s reported on over his 70-year career, and instead is only looking for new ideas, which is what drew him to do a documentary about London. “He’s incredibly easy to work with,” added Loncraine. “I’ve worked with presenters in their 30s who are far more difficult. I think if you imagine what most 80-year-olds are like, he’s a bit like that, but he’s 100.”
Loncraine has directed and produced episodes of other series of Sir David Attenborough’s, including The Mating Game, Life That Glows and Natural World series. Speaking about working with soon-to-be centenarian, he said: “You don’t get many days with him. When I’ve worked with him before in the US, half the time you’ve got with him is used up on travel. Whereas with this, every single day he was on camera, which was great.”
David Attenborough’s Wild London is on iPlayer
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