‘I’ve directed Sir David Attenborough for 40 years – these are my best stories’
Ocean with David Attenborough is in cinemas from tomorrow – its producer, a longtime colleague of Sir David’s, shares his favourite memories of working with the legendary broadcaster as he turns 99
Here’s a remarkable fact: when TV producer Keith Scholey first worked with Sir David Attenborough in 1983, the nature documentarian was approaching the end of his ‘first’ career. In his fifties, Attenborough had been director of programming at the BBC throughout the 1960s and 1970s, but turned to presenting as a swansong.
Scholey was in his twenties then and, now in his late sixties, he’s immune to speculation about what life might look like post-Sir David. “I’ve gone through so much of my life and people have said: ‘Is this the last David Attenborough series? His last film?’ That’s been going on for twenty years. I don’t even bother with that anymore.”
“He has sort of stopped still in the ageing process, especially in his mind,” adds Scholey. “He’s as sharp as ever. So there is an element when you meet that he’s the same guy and nothing much has changed.” But he adds soberingly: “All of us are aware of a number.”
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Scholey has produced dozens of Attenborough series, including State of the Planet and The Life of Mammals. He also produced and directed The Blue Planet, Andes to Amazon and Wild Africa, and has spent the past couple of years working on Ocean with David Attenborough, which Scholey describes as “a polemic by Sir David” in which the documentarian acknowledges he’s “approaching the end of his life.”
It calls upon the United Nations Ocean Conference this June to commit to the target of protecting 30 per cent of the world’s oceans by 2030. Filled with dramatic orchestral crescendos and closely cropped shots of trawlers, the legend is on narrative duties, and there are poignant shots of Attenborough on the south coast peering out to sea as he ponders the not-far-away moment when he too will be become matter, like the particles that make up the waves. It’s the latest in dozens of series by the broadcaster to confront climate change, following 2021’s The Year The Earth Changed and Blue Planet; Attenborough’s approach has been so significant that he has inspired British investors to take more sustainable and ethical approaches, causing a spike in funding for environmental projects.
Contingency plans were made in case the broadcaster passed away during production. “I guess at the back of your mind you’ve always got a view, you know, we might have to change tack,” says Scholey.
As you’d imagine, Attenborough’s admission that he’ll soon be departed hasn’t been missed by the tabloid media. Social media posts have gone viral quoting the legend referring to his final years, with hundreds of crying face emojis littering the comments. Scholey is happy to regale stories about how working with Attenborough has come to define his career. But he doesn’t ponder long when I ask whether he and Attenborough have discussed a legacy piece to publish posthumously: “Never, no. I don’t think he’d want to do that. David doesn’t like looking back.” Would he ever bring the subject up? “No. The great thrill of working with David Attenborough is that he thrives on looking forward.”
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There is a good story from the filming of Ocean that demonstrates how the 99-year-old remains singularly focused on his work despite approaching triple figures. Just before the credits roll, Attenborough delivers his most personal speech ever, about how we can save humankind by protecting the ocean. As he says his lines, a camera fixed on a drone zooms out to reveal Attenborough standing on the edge of a cliff completely alone. He had to withstand sub-zero temperatures on the Jurassic Coast in order to get the perfect shot. Scholey says there was no camera trickery, it really was just Attenborough standing completely alone just before dawn one winter morning, with no one around for what looks like miles. “It was absolutely baltic,” says Toby Nowlan, co-director. “It’s quite an orchestration, to get everyone clear and get him in position, especially as the final shot of the film. It has to carry and deliver.”
It may surprise his fans to know that Attenborough’s genial presence is more manufactured than it seems. Attenborough “really struggled with this whole celeb bit,” says Scholey. “He absolutely is not interested in David Attenborough, but he is fundamentally interested in the world outside him, and that includes people.” If he seems like a natural during appearances on radio shows like BBC Radio 1, with its young audience, that is testament to him being “an amazing broadcaster. He understands the medium and each thing he’s operating in.”
Nowlan remembers of Attenborough on set that “he’ll be delivering these pieces to camera, trotting them out with just complete perfection, saying: ‘Oh shall we go again? Shall we go again?’ Just a wonderful, stoic presence. He was talking about how if we save the sea then we save our world. He did it with such intimacy and poignancy. It was really, really emotional.”
Much of the filming for Ocean was in the UK, from kelp forests to scallop beds and trawlers. “It’s not some pristine Pacific island,” says Scholey. “We’re talking about the grey English channel with its groynes and mud flats.” There are some astounding facts, like how sea grass absorbs carbon dioxide 35 times faster than any tropical rainforest, and oceanic habitats soak up far more carbon than everything combined on land.
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“What is extraordinary about spending time with David is he’s got another story that you just can’t believe. He told me the other day something that I didn’t know. Anthony Eden did his speech announcing to the nation that we were going into Suez [canal], and David was the producer. He used to play tennis with Eden as well as being his producer. He’s probably known every Prime Minister since Churchill. It’s incredible, let alone all the wildlife stuff.”
It’s pertinent and totally surreal to think that this one really might signify the end. But Scholey will always have his memories. What’s his favourite one? He looks overwhelmed at the thought of singling out one instance from a lifetime’s work, but manages to. “I remember very early on when I was working with him, coming out of a tent and this big bull elephant just walked down the path. David turned to me and said: ‘Do you think he’s friendly?’ I was a real youngster. We just watched this elephant go past, and David said ‘I suppose we better follow him.’ It was just such a magical moment with this bloody great big animal that could have killed us in a flash.”
Ocean with David Attenborough is in cinemas from 8 May to coincide with Sir David’s 99th birthday. Show support to his cause by supporting the Blue Marine Foundation’s campaign to ban bottom trawling in marine protected areas, part of the film’s campaign to protect 30 per cent of the world’s oceans by 2030. bluemarinefoundation.com