Film
My career in TV started with work experience at the BBC, collecting spit (or “DNA samples”, as they were officially known) for Blood of the Vikings, a big-budget series that “traced the legacy of the Vikings in the British Isles through a genetics survey”. This was a truly shitty job, but I was pretty quickly rewarded with my first contract at the BBC and I was also credited as an “author” on the scientific paper that was published once all the spit had been analysed; I think this entitles me to claim that I am a “published scientist”. Or maybe not.
Within months of starting at the BBC, I shot my first sequence for broadcast TV (thanks to a series producer who took a risk). I went on to work on a number of science / history shows at the BBC, including What the Victorians Did for Us and Horizon. I moved on from the BBC to work for independent TV companies including Pioneer Productions and Screenhouse (where I helped to make BBC TWO’s Science Shack).
I have written, produced and directed a number of TV programmes and made several short films. A lot of my independent film-making has focussed on working with scientists, helping them to tell their own stories. These days, I am spending a lot of time making films to encourage parents to do science activities at home with their children and teacher training films.
Below are links to some of the films I have made over the last few years. You can see more at my youtube channel, sciencefilms. If you’d like me to make a film for you, get in touch.