David Attenborough at 97: ‘He still works harder than most of us – seven days a week’
At 97, Sir David Attenborough is a man still happy to crawl on his belly through wet grass to get his shot.
For his latest Sky Nature project, Secret World Of Sound, the world-renowned naturalist and broadcaster explores the ways that animals hear and produce sound, using cutting-edge technology to record noises from nature – with some captured on film for the first time.
Attenborough’s long-time collaborator, and the show’s series producer, Sharmila Choudhury tells The Climate Show: “David keeps us on our toes. He sets the bar very high. And that’s a good thing.
“I think he work still works harder than most of us, usually seven days a week… When he commits himself to something, he gives it 100%.”
Sir David Attenborough puts sound centre stage in his new three-part documentary, Secret World Of Sound. Pic: Sky Nature/NOW
Joining the team for filming in the Wye Valley in Monmouth to capture the song of a wild dipper, Attenborough found himself lying on the damp ground hoping that the small bird would show up.
Truly at one with nature, he didn’t have long to wait.
Choudhury explains: “He crawled through the grass to get into the best position, and was all up for it… We didn’t want to leave him lying in the wet grass for hours.
“Miraculously, and this often happens when David arrives on location, the sun suddenly burst through the clouds.
“The dipper flew in. David smiled and delivered his lines of what he wanted to say, you know, smoothly in one go. It’s amazing.”
Pic: Sky Nature/NOW
‘It hits you in the core’
For the same episode, Attenborough explains how bees are struggling with modern fertilisers and climate change.
Choudhury says: “Him looking straight to camera and delivering a message like that is so powerful. It literally hits you in the core.”
Calling him an “inspiration,” and praising his “unrivalled” breadth of knowledge, she adds: “And he obviously has a fabulous voice and style of delivery, which is the cherry on the cake of any natural history program.”
A three-part series, the documentary studies animal behaviour, breaking the sounds they make down into four functions – finding a mate, looking after young, hunting for food or avoiding becoming prey.
Technology worthy of 007
Some of the technology used in the series was borrowed from other walks of life, while other bits of kit were of true James Bond status.
Choudhury says: “We used everything from the tiniest microphone the size of your fingernail, that you could put inside a bird nest or a beehive, to super sensitive hydrophones that you can put underwater to record, the faintest communications between fish.
“There were also a couple of, gadgets that were actually developed for other industries – the gas industry, or for espionage purposes, that we thought might help us to listen in on sounds that we don’t normally get to hear.”
One of those gadgets was the laser vibrometer – a machine which shoots out a laser beam to detect any vibrations caused by noise and amplifies them, so they are audible to the human ear.
Pic: Sky Nature/NOW
It was used to capture the love song of a pair of amorous treehoppers in Costa Rica.
While sound was the focus of the documentary, another theme became impossible to ignore while filming.
‘Every single shoot was impacted by climate change’
Choudhury says: “The biggest challenge, without any doubt, was climate change. It’s something that we’ve seen creep in on us over the years.
“I’ve been making wildlife films for over 30 years. And in the last decade or so, more and more shoots have been impacted by climate change.
“That means animals that would have been predictable in their movements, say, their migrations or where they would be, or the time of year they’d be breeding, are not doing the usual things anymore.
“It started off with one or two parts of the world, or one or two shoots being affected by this. But on this particular series, every single shoot was impacted by climate change.
“That made filming very difficult, and it was very distressing to see the animals suffering in this new world.”
‘The elephants were so stressed’
One example was the team’s trip to Amboseli National Park in Kenya to film elephants.
Pic: Sky Nature/NOW
The plan had been to shoot a story about how mothers and babies communicate with each other – but when they arrived following Kenya’s worst drought in 40 years, they found the elephants in an awful plight.
“The elephants were behaving very differently to before. They had split up into tiny herds and every night they would go out of the park to surrounding fields to try and find some food.
“Every morning they would walk back into the waterhole in the middle of the park, and they would walk single file heads down, absolutely dejected. They didn’t make a single sound.
“The animals were so stressed, they had no energy left to talk to each other effectively.
“After we left, Kenya and Amboseli experienced the worst deaths of wildlife, including elephants, recorded history and that was clearly a result of climate change.”
Pic: Sky Nature/NOW
‘Buy the coral reefs a little time’
But there was some hope amid the devastation being caused to the natural world by the climate crisis – and this was very much set in the world of sound.
During filming, the team discovered an Australian scientist whose research had found that by playing the sound of a healthy coral reef at the site of a dying reef it could help regenerate it and bring back some of the fish.
Click to subscribe to ClimateCast with Tom Heap wherever you get your podcasts
Choudhury explains: “They are hopeful that they might be able to buy coral reefs a little bit of time whilst we tackle climate change.
“It won’t be a solution in the long run because the reef will continue to die off if the oceans continue to warm. But it’s a little ray of hope, at a time when we so badly needed.”
Watch the full interview with Sharmila Choudhury on The Climate Show with Tom Heap, Saturday and Sunday at 3.30 and 7.30pm on Sky News.
Secret World Of Sound With David Attenborough is streaming on Sky Nature and NOW.
Irish actor Paul Mescal says meeting King Charles was not on his “list of priorities”.
The 28-year-old star was introduced to the reigning monarch at the Gladiator II world premiere in London last week.
The historical epic picks up 20 years after the Oscar-winning original, and marks Mescal‘s first big studio movie after success in TV and independent film, playing Roman warrior Lucius Verus.
The King greets the film’s stars at the world premiere
Talking about his brush with royalty on the red carpet, Mescal told US outlet Variety he did not see it coming.
Speaking at the film’s Los Angeles premiere, Mescal said: “How wild is it? It’s definitely not something that I thought was in the bingo cards.
“I’m Irish, so it’s not on the list of priorities”.
He then swiftly turned the answer to the film’s 86-year-old director, Ridley Scott, saying: “It’s an amazing thing for Ridley because I know how important that is for him.
“So, to see his film celebrated in that context was pretty special.”
Ahead of the premiere, both Mescal and Scott had enjoyed a champagne reception at Buckingham Palace, and so were already in a celebratory mood on their arrival.
Due to the large number of people at the event, Mescal admitted it was also hard to hear what was being said during his exchange with the King, so he was “nodding along and smiling”.
Pic: Paramount Pictures
The world premiere was held in aid of the Film and TV Charity, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, and marked the first premiere Charles attended as King.
The King also met with Mescal’s co-stars including Oscar-winner Denzel Washington and Narcos actor Pedro Pascal.
Other celebrities to attend included actor Joseph Fiennes and TV presenter Claudia Winkleman.
Reviews of the film have been mixed thanks to its more-is-more attitude to CGI and OTT storylines, but there is broad agreement that audiences will leave the cinema somewhat entertained.
Mescal and Scott on set. Pic: Paramount Pictures
Speaking to Sky News at the London event, Mescal said being part of the movie was a “wildly… overwhelming” experience“.
Sir Ridley – who cast Mescal in the role after a brief Zoom chat with the actor – told Sky News his reason for choosing him was that he saw aspects of “a young Albert Finney” in him.
The original Gladiator starred Russell Crowe as Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius. The Australian actor does not return for the sequel.
Joaquin Phoenix also had a starring role in the first film, which Scott later admitted he nearly walked out of.
Both Mescal and Scott have teased that they would both be up for a third film.
Gladiator II is in cinemas now.
Entertainment
Zoe Ball to leave her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show – and will be replaced by Scott Mills
Zoe Ball is leaving her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show after six years.
The 53-year-old, who recently lost her mother to cancer, will present her last show on Friday, 20 December.
Ball leaves Wogan House with her replacement, Scott Mills. Pic: PA
She said she was leaving to focus on family, but will remain part of the Radio 2 team and will give further details next year.
Announcing the news on her Tuesday show, she said: “After six years of fun times alongside you all on the breakfast show, I’ve decided it’s time to step away from the early alarm call and start a new chapter.
“You know I think the world of you all, listeners, and it truly has been such a privilege to share the mornings with you, to go through life’s little ups and downs, we got through the lockdown together, didn’t we?
“We’ve shared a hell of a lot, the good times, the tough times, there’s been a lot of laughter. And I am going to miss you cats.”
Scott Mills will replace Ball on the breakfast show following her departure next month.
“Zoe and I have been such good friends now for over 25 years and have spent much of that time as part of the same radio family here at Radio 2 and also on Radio 1,” he said.
“She’s done an incredible job on this show over the past six years, and I am beyond excited to be handed the baton.”
Hugging outside the BBC building on the day of the announcement, Ball said she was “really chuffed for my mate and really excited about it”.
Ball was the first female host of both the BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 breakfast shows, starting at the Radio 1 breakfast show in 1998, and taking over her current Radio 2 role from Chris Evans in 2020 after he left the show.
She took a break from hosting her show over the summer, returning in September.
Ahead of her stint in radio, Ball – who is the daughter of children’s presenter Johnny Ball – co-hosted the BBC’s Saturday morning children’s magazine show Live & Kicking alongside Jamie Theakston for three years from 1996.
She has two children, Woody and Nelly, with her ex-husband, DJ and musician Norman Cook, known professionally as Fatboy Slim.
Ball said in her announcement her last show towards the end of December will be “just in time for Christmas with plenty of fun and shenanigans”.
“While I’m stepping away from the Breakfast Show, I’m not disappearing entirely – I’ll still be a part of the Radio 2 family, with more news in the New Year,” she added.
“I’m excited to embrace my next chapter, including being a mum in the mornings, and I can’t wait to tune in on the school run!”
Helen Thomas, head of Radio 2, said: “Zoe has woken up the nation on Radio 2 with incredible warmth, wit and so much joy since January 2019, and I’d like to thank her for approaching each show with as much vim and vigour as if it were her first. I’m thrilled that she’ll remain an important part of the Radio 2 family.”
Mills, 51, got his first presenting role aged just 16 for a local station in Hampshire, and went on to present in Bristol and Manchester, before joining BBC Radio 1 in 1998.
He got his first permanent role on Radio 2 in 2022, replacing Steve Wright, after previously working as a cover presenter on the station.
Entertainment
Dune: Prophecy star Olivia Williams says series is the first time she has felt confident her scenes would not be cut
British actress Olivia Williams has said that in more than 30 years of acting on screen, starring in Dune: Prophecy is the first time she has felt confident her scenes would not be cut from a project.
Williams, who has appeared in films including The Sixth Sense, Rushmore and An Education, and portrayed Camilla Parker Bowles, before she became Queen, in the final two seasons of The Crown, can now be seen in the TV prequel to the blockbuster Denis Villeneuve films.
She stars alongside her close friend Emily Watson, with the pair playing the Harkonnen sisters – two women fighting forces that threaten the future of humankind.
Emily Watson and Olivia Williams star together in Dune: Prophecy. Pic: Sky Atlantic/ HBO
Based on the Dune and Sisterhood of Dune novels, the Sky Atlantic show is set 10,000 years before the birth of Timothee Chalamet‘s character, Paul Atreides, in the films, and follows the two women as they found the fabled sisterhood that will later become known as the Bene Gesserit.
The series is a prequel to the Dune films, which star Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya. Pic: Warner Bros. Pictures
Despite knowing each other for 30 years, and even working at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) at the same time, the show marks Williams and Watson’s first time on screen together.
Williams says they are often asked why they have never acted together before. There’s a simple answer, she tells Sky News. “It’s because there are no scripts for two women of the same age to lead a story.
“We’re used to playing the character that can, if the film’s running a bit long, be cut out because you don’t genuinely affect the plot of the show. Well, just try cutting the Harkonnen sisters out of this story!”
She adds: “We knew that our work would be used – which, in 35 years, I’d say is the first time that’s happened.”
Williams plays Sister Tula Harkonnen. Pic: HBO/ Sky Atlantic
In Dune: Prophecy, Watson plays the Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit Sisters, Valya Harkonnen, whilst Williams plays her younger sibling, Sister Tula Harkonnen.
Watson, who recently starred alongside Oscar winner Cillian Murphy in Small Things Like These, says it feels wonderful to be given the freedom to portray strong, stoic characters.
“When we were first cast, we went and sat in the National Portrait Gallery and sat in front of portraits of Queen Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, Bloody Mary, and just thought about that time when those very powerful women were front and centre, and terrified and deeply paranoid because everybody wanted to either marry them or kill them.”
Jodhi May and Mark Strong also star. Pic: Sky Atlantic/ HBO
The two actresses first met outside the Black Swan pub in Stratford-upon-Avon when they were starting out in their careers with the nearby RSC.
Williams says it “doesn’t feel real” that their careers have become as successful as they have.
“It is an extraordinary thing that I said I would stop at 30 and go and try to be a lawyer. I didn’t intend to be working as an actor and now I can’t believe my luck.
“You get to the end of every job and you go, was that the last time I will act? And that is a really tough way to, you know, bring up a family and you can’t get a bloody mortgage or life insurance with a lifestyle like that. So anyway, that was my real-life whinge.”
Read more:
Boy George on the price of fame
A crushed car and trouser scraps: From fan club to band
Watson said the experience of leading a big-budget series together was not lost on her, and she felt an onus to help create a positive environment for the younger actors.
“We were like the CEOs and we were making sure that everybody was seen and felt part of something and were feeling okay about how everything was going down. And it felt like a really healthy way to do it.”
Dune: Prophecy is available to watch on Sky Atlantic and Now
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports8 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway