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Paul Olding |
Darwin’s
Dangerous Idea: Life and Death
Watch
Behind-the-Scenes Clips
1. What is the film all
about?
3. What did Andrew Marr find
surprising?
4. Any difficult times during
filming?
5. Filming on the beach in
Argentina
Reviews
from the Newspapers
“…excellent series…”
“4 stars”
“…accessible, wry and unapologetically erudite
it is both
scientifically and televisually a
(Dar)win-(Dar)win situation…”
“…fascinating journey…”
“…a dazzling variety of settings and costumes…”
“…fetching outfits…”
Festivals
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(Sept 2009) |
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(October 2009) |
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March 2010 |
The Story Begins
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2009 sees the 150th
anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s book ‘On the Origin of
Species’. As you might expect, there is going to be a whole year of Darwin
stuff on the tv. BBC2 has a three part series presented by Andrew Marr taking
a slightly different perspective on the whole Darwin story. In my episode (3rd
in series), we see how Darwin realized that the Natural World is intricately
interconnected, exploring the relationships between living species, and
between the living and the dead. Our journey begins on a beach just east of Bahia Blanca in Argentina. It was here in October 1832 that Darwin encountered his first fossils, the giant bones of an extinct mammal species. This got him thinking about the nature of extinction, not just how, but why. Contrary to the belief at the time, Darwin found evidence that these giant beasts had not been slain in some catastrophic Biblical deluge. So why were they no longer alive? Heading off on horseback to explore the Argentine Pampas, Darwin encounters the local wildlife. But as he tucks into a fine supper of roasted Armadillo, he releases that the bones left on his plate look very similar to the giant bones of the extinct species he had found at the beach. Could the living forms be somehow related to the long since dead? |
Photo Album
Filming in Argentina - October 2008
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Andrew on the Beach East of Punta Alta |
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Filming the fossil cliffs |
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Close Ups |
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The crew on the beach |
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Dr Teresa from the |
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Filming a fossil mammal bone in situ |
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Fossil Mammal Bone |
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Andrew and the Fossil we found |
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Driving across the |
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Sunrise in the Sierra de la Ventana |
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Tres Picos |
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Glyptodon |
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Scelidotherium |
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Toxodon |
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Andrew and Horse |
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Paul and Horacio the Gaucho |
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Ernesto helps with the camera |
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Horacio |
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Tripod on Horse |
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Andrew Marr |
The Story Continues
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Since returning
from Argentina, we filmed in the UK. At the Natural History Museum in London where
a significant chunk of Darwin’s fossils are kept. At Kew Gardens where we
explored how Darwin came up with his dangerous idea and how he shared his
secrets with Joseph Dalton Hooker, Darwin’s confidante (and later director of
Kew) and the rush to finish Origins when Alfred Russel Wallace came up with
the same idea whilst suffering from Malaria in Indonesia. At the Crossness
pump house in Thamesmead, we explore the effects of the industrial revolution
on humanity’s ability to drastically change the environment. In a woods in Surrey we explored the role of the
great ecologist Charles Elton and how he took Darwin’s ideas and used them to
understand invasive species. To a farm in Sevenoaks to tell the story of
Rachel Carson and Silent Spring. To Bowerchalk in Wiltshire to talk about
James Lovelock and his Gaia theory. And to Down House in Kent to round things
off, talking about Darwin’s most popular work during his lifetime, a book on
earthworms. Then we went to St Lucia to bring the story bang up to date. We explore the current global threat to coral reefs and tropical rainforests and solutions that Darwin himself is helping us to come to terms with. |
Filming In the UK - Winter 2008
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Under the gaze of the BIG man |
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With the Megatherium |
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In the forest |
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Filming at Crossness Pump House |
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Ron the Grip |
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Jeremy DoP |
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Filming at the Farm |
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Filming in St Lucia – January 2009
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Filming the coral |
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Andrew doodling |
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Andrew and the Pitons |
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Filming in the Rainforest |
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Filming from the helicopter |
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Filming from the boat |
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All
Images copyright Paul Olding 2008 or BBC