EXCLUSIVE The truth behind David Attenborough's new ocean documentary - including how involved he REALLY is and the underwater shots that look 'too good to be true'
From the technology behind the stunning underwater shots to how the renowned environmental advocate shaped the new documentary, director Keith Scholey has revealed everything about Ocean With David Attenborough.
Produced by Silverback Films and Open Planet Studio, the National Geographic film premieres tomorrow (June 8) and dives, quite literally, into the underwater world.
Ocean is narrated by the celebrated broadcaster and filmmaker as he reflects on how exploration under the sea has developed over his lifetime.
From fish trawling to marine reserves the documentary, which was directed by Toby Nowlan, Keith Scholey and Colin Butfield, explores why a healthy ocean is so important for the planet.
The film features amazing clips of sea life that almost look too good to be true, including the largest school of yellowfin tuna ever caught on camera.
From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop.
Award-winning producer Scholey told MailOnline how every single piece of footage is real, despite how incredible it looks, and new technology was used to capture it.
'It is all, all real,' Scholey insisted. There's one specific, crystal-clear shot that shows dolphins swimming effortlessly, which the director explained 'is captured by a new technique'.
'Basically, we invented what we call a tow cam, and it's like a torpedo device that you drop out the back of your boat, and it's got a camera in the back and cameras in the side,' he said.
'And then we attach all sorts of things that dolphins will find interesting around the end of the tow cam.
'They see this thing behind, dragging behind a boat, and they think, wow, let's go and have a look at it. And you get these amazing shots.'
Scholey revealed what would go on with sea life around the camera and explained that other creatures, including tuna and false killer whales would be attracted to it from behind.
However, it isn't easy technology to use and Scholey admitted: 'We had used crude versions of it, but this is the first one where we got it right.'
He added: 'It's quite difficult to to get the thing to sit stably in the water far enough behind the boat, so that it doesn't get in the wake of the boat and everything there's all.
'There was all sorts of complications. But it was wonderful because he because you don't see what you're getting. You know, you see the dolphins. You think, oh, they're looking at it.
'But you it's only until you pull the thing aboard and you look at what's captured on the camera.'
The producer has worked with David Attenborough since 1981 and says he is always 'very hands on'.
He revealed: 'The sort of technique has always been the same. I think that David usually sort of works out the the overall kind of structure of what we do, we then go away and we research and research and research, we find all the best stories and what have you and we come back to him.'
The renowned environmental advocate was involved the the 'very collaborative process' of creating the documentary.
'He's always very, very hands on about the final words, narration,' Scholey added. 'Obviously he's saying them. All the responsibility hangs on the great man, he's very important.'
During Ocean, Attenborough himself is filmed but also provides a constant voice over, describing the scenes and providing information to the viewer.
Scholey branded Attenborough as 'one of the best narration commentary writers ever' and gushed how he is 'very skilled at it'
Scholey branded Attenborough as 'one of the best narration commentary writers ever' and gushed how he is 'very skilled at it'.
'He's very, very skilled at writing for his own delivery, obviously the two things go hand in hand, how he writes and how he delivers,' he added.
'And that's why you get this amazing performance.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
29 minutes ago
- BBC News
Vera Rubin: First celestial image from revolutionary telescope
A powerful new telescope in Chile has released its first images, showing off its unprecedented ability to peer into the dark depths of the one picture, vast colourful gas and dust clouds swirl in a star-forming region 9,000 light years from Earth. The Vera C Rubin observatory, home to the world's most powerful digital camera, promises to transform our understanding of the a ninth planet exists in our solar system, scientists say this telescope would find it in its first year. It should detect killer asteroids in striking distance of Earth and map the Milky Way. It will also answer crucial questions about dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up most of our once-in-a-generation moment for astronomy is the start of a continuous 10-year filming of the southern night sky."I personally have been working towards this point for about 25 years. For decades we wanted to build this phenomenal facility and to do this type of survey," says Professor Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for UK is a key partner in the survey and will host data centres to process the extremely detailed snapshots as the telescope sweeps the skies capturing everything in its Rubin could increase the number of known objects in our solar system tenfold. BBC News visited the Vera Rubin observatory before the release of the sits on Cerro Pachón, a mountain in the Chilean Andes that hosts several observatories on private land dedicated to space high, very dry, and very dark. It is a perfect location to watch the this darkness is sacrosanct. The bus ride up and down the windy road at night must be done cautiously, because full-beam headlights must not be inside of the observatory is no is a whole engineering unit dedicated to making sure the dome surrounding the telescope, which opens to the night sky, is dark – turning off rogue LEDs or other stray lights that could interfere with the astronomical light they are capturing from the night starlight is "enough" to navigate, commissioning scientist Elana Urbach of the observatory's big goals, she adds, is to "understand the history of the Universe" which means being able to see faint galaxies or supernova explosions that happened "billions of years ago"."So, we really need very sharp images," Elana detail of the observatory's design exhibits similar precision. It achieves this through its unique three-mirror design. Light enters the telescope from the night sky, hits the primary mirror (8.4m diameter), is reflected onto the secondary mirror (3.4m) back onto a third mirror (4.8m) before entering its mirrors must be kept in impeccable condition. Even a speck of dust could alter the image high reflectivity and speed of this allow the telescope to capture a lot of light which Guillem Megias, an active optics expert at the observatory, says is "really important" to observe things from "really far away which, in astronomy, means they come from earlier times".The camera inside the telescope will repeatedly capture the night sky for ten years, every three days, for a Legacy Survey of Space and 1.65m x 3m, it weighs 2,800kg and provides a wide field of will capture an image roughly every 40 seconds, for about 8-12 hours a night thanks to rapid repositioning of the moving dome and telescope has 3,200 megapixels (67 times more than an iPhone 16 Pro camera), making it so high-resolution that it could capture a golf ball on the Moon and would require 400 Ultra HD TV screens to show a single image."When we got the first photo up here, it was a special moment," Mr Megias said."When I first started working with this project, I met someone who had been working on it since 1996. I was born in 1997. It makes you realise this is an endeavour of a generation of astronomers." It will be down to hundreds of scientists around the world to analyse the stream of data alerts, which will peak at around 10 million a survey will work on four areas: mapping changes in the skies or transient objects, the formation of the Milky Way, mapping the Solar System, and understanding dark matter or how the universe its biggest power lies in its constancy. It will survey the same areas over and over again, and every time it detects a change, it will alert scientists. "This transient side is the really new unique thing... That has the potential to show us something that we hadn't even thought about before," explains Prof it could also help protect us by detecting dangerous objects that suddenly stray near Earth, including asteroids like YR4 that scientists briefly worried early this year was on track to smash into our camera's very large mirrors will help scientists detect the faintest of light and distortions emitted from these objects and track them as they speed through space."It's transformative. It's going be the largest data set we've ever had to look at our galaxy with. It will fuel what we do for many, many years," says Professor Alis Deason at Durham will receive the images to analyse how far back the stars reach in the Milky the moment most data from the stars goes back about 163,000 light years, but Vera Rubin could see back to 1.2 million Deason also expects to see into the Milky Way's stellar halo, or its graveyard of stars destroyed over time, as well as small satellite galaxies that are still surviving but are incredibly faint and hard to Vera Rubin is thought to be powerful enough to finally solve a long-standing mystery about the existence of our solar system's Planet object could be as far away as 700 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun, far beyond the reach of other ground telescopes. "It's gonna take us a long time to really understand how this new beautiful observatory works. But I am so ready for it," says Professor Heymans.
Times
36 minutes ago
- Times
Harry Hill: My kids tell me, ‘You can't say that, Dad'
Comedian Matthew Hall, known as Harry Hill, 60, grew up in Kent and started his career as a doctor. His comedy breakthrough came when he won the Perrier award for best newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1992. Harry Hill's TV Burp, the show he presented for 11 years, won three Bafta TV awards. He also narrated You've Been Framed! for 18 years and now presents Junior Bake Off. He lives in Kent with his wife, Magda Archer, with whom he has three daughters. I've had friends who have been 'cancelled'. They worry about it. But on the whole, unless they've done something really awful, everyone has forgotten about it. There are so many people being cancelled every day; it's like a build-up of bodies. I typed into Chat GPT, 'Write an original routine in the style of Harry Hill.' It wasn't even funny, ironically — AI doesn't have any idea about writing jokes. So I don't worry about it taking my place. I went to school in my glasses and got teased. Kids would say, 'Can I have a go with your glasses?' They'd take them off me and pass them around. It was an awful feeling. To this day, if anyone asks to try on my glasses for selfies, it makes me really antsy. I made a conscious effort to wear glasses when I became a comic because I remember whenever someone wore glasses on TV. Audiences are more alert to the idea that they might be offended. Certain words or things make them anxious. They're thinking, 'Oh no, I hope he's not going to say something that we will need to be offended by.' My kids pick me up on stuff – they say, 'No, you can't say that, Dad.' Which is helpful, because you don't want people to be offended. The responsibility of being a doctor was pretty scary. I was never as nervous going on stage as I was being 'on call'. It was people having heart attacks and strokes, so I was thinking, if I get this wrong… We were all doing these long hours and were treated really badly by our superiors and we couldn't push back. It was one of the low points for the health service. • Read more TV reviews, guides about what to watch and interviews It shows you how bad things have got when doctors are going on strike. Because the whole health service is run on the goodwill of the doctors and nurses. Once that's gone, the whole game's up. Bill Bailey and Chris McCausland have screwed it up for every comedian who thought about going on Strictly Come Dancing. If you're a 60-year-old out-of-shape bloke who can't dance, what hope have you got? Everyone gets divorced now, but in the Seventies it was a bit taboo. You had to do a lot of explaining to people because it was quite unusual. [Hill's parents divorced when he was just starting primary school.] It wasn't very pleasant. When you get a bit older, you don't particularly want to go and stay with your dad for the weekend. Chris McCausland is an inspiration. I did a TV show with him and it was fantastic spending time with someone who can't see — a real education for me. I was supposed to be looking after him, but the first day he got in the car and banged his head. The producer was saying, 'Where were you?' I kept my kids away from the TV studio and showbiz. I didn't want them going into it just because it looked glamorous or fun. The truth is, for any success in this game you've got to be very pushy. They've come with me on the road for my most recent tour. It's been interesting for them to see what it involves: a lot of time spent on the North Circular and eating sandwiches. I don't have fond memories of a lot of the stuff I did, even though it was successful. It just seems like a blur and a lot of stress. I don't do any exercise. I never have. It's revenge. At school, PE is the one subject where, if you're not very good at it, the teacher picks on you. I always had crappy kit — I used to get a lot of hand-me-downs. Art is therapeutic. At medical school, I had a sketchbook on which I used to take out my frustration. People spend money on meditation and yoga, but art is a very low-cost hobby. In the old days, I'd do a gig then have a drink and a laugh. Now I get in the car, fall asleep, do the show, get back in the car and fall asleep. But I don't think I've ever enjoyed it as much as I do now. Harry Hill voices Bristles the talking paintbrush in Go Get Arty, available on CBBC and BBC iPlayer
Daily Mail
37 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Miley Cyrus and Naomi Campbell slammed for doing a 'meet and greet with each other' at fan event: 'You ignored your fans'
Miley Cyrus and Naomi Campbell were slammed for 'ignoring their fans' and doing a 'meet and greet with each other' at fan event over the weekend. On Sunday, Cyrus held a fan signing event to celebrate the release of her new single before later enjoying a glitzy night on the town with her supermodel pal in London. During the fan event, the pair were signing vinyls for their collaboration as part of Cyrus' new single, Every Girl You've Ever Loved, for the singer's Something Beautiful film. A slew of fans lined up at record store Rough Trade to meet the dynamic duo, but many of them took to social media to share their disappointing experience being 'ignored' by the stars. In fan-taken footage of the fan event, the pop star chatted animatedly with the supermodel, 55, while also signing vinyls and greeting fans. Many of her fans' faces changed, however, when they noticed that the Flowers hitmaker's attention was clearly divided, which resulted in poor quality photos where the stars were often not looking at the camera at all. has reached out to both Cyrus and Campbell's respective representatives for comment but have not heard back at this time. After the fan signing event and their night out on the town, the former Disney star took to Instagram to share a series of photos and a clip of them posing up a storm at the record store. In her caption, Cyrus gushed over the catwalk icon and said she 'adored meeting' all of their fans who attended. 'Thank you for celebrating the Every Girl You've Ever Loved vinyl release day with me,' she wrote to Campbell in her caption. 'Laughing with you is my favorite. I'll miss you until we reunite. Love you forever,' she added. She also thanked her fans and told those who 'missed it' to go buy the vinyl, and in the comments section, Cyrus received a slew of messages about their 'rude' behavior at the meet and greet event. 'Sorry to everyone who went and got a photo with them talking to one another,' one Instagram user wrote. Another added: 'The way you ignored your fans lol.' On X, formerly Twitter, many attendees shared photos and videos of their interactions with the two stars as Cyrus and Campbell received even more backlash for how they 'ignored' their fans fan gets ignored by Miley Cyrus and Naomi Campbell 😭 — kira 👾 (@kirawontmiss) June 22, 2025 'Girl you were very rude to your fans at this signing,' another person wrote. On X, formerly Twitter, many attendees shared photos and videos of their interactions with the two stars as Cyrus and Campbell received even more backlash for how they 'ignored' their fans. Many shared their criticism in response to fan-taken footage shared by YouTuber Juanito Say, who wrote alongside the clip: 'You pay for a meet & greet to meet Miley Cyrus... And she totally ignores you because she's busy chatting with Naomi Campbell.' One attendee shared a photo of them posing alongside the stars but Campbell was looking down and Cyrus was not yet smiling. The X user tweeted cringing emojis and wrote: 'This is as good as I got from the video.' Another excited fan also shared a photo from their meet and greet. The two stars both looked ready for the photo and were mid-smile but faced different directions. Other selfies shared by a Miley Cyrus fan account appeared similarly rushed but their fans were smiling brightly and appeared ecstatic as they met their idols. 'No literally they're so weird for this,' one X user tweeted, while another added, 'omg this is so rude.' 'I know Miley Cyrus and washed up Naomi Campbell don't think they're ALL that in 2024. F*** outta here,' another X user wrote with their disappointed reaction. 'I canceled my order,' a fan added after seeing other fans' experiences. 'They just talking to themselves? Barely acknowledging the fans.' Other people slammed the two stars and while criticizing Cyrus, wrote: 'No bc the way I'd ask for a refund to her face.' Another person wrote that the supermodel seemed like she 'deliberately started talking to Miley as soon as she saw the girl walk up.' After the fan signing, Cyrus and Campbell went out for the evening in London. The singer was later seen leaving a Lost City immersive event in Covent Garden. During their night out, the superstar's father Billy Ray Cyrus was also in attendance alongside his new girlfriend Liz Hurley. The father-daughter duo's public reunion comes after she unpacked a decade's worth of family drama and trauma, revealing how she mended all of her fences, while on a promo tour for her new album release for Something Beautiful. 'I know Miley Cyrus and washed up Naomi Campbell don't think they're ALL that in 2024. F*** outta here,' another X user wrote with their disappointed reaction 'I canceled my order,' a fan added after seeing other fans' experiences. 'They just talking to themselves? Barely acknowledging the fans' One person wrote: 'No literally they're so weird for this' Other people slammed the two stars and while criticizing Cyrus, wrote: 'No bc the way I'd ask for a refund to her face' Another person wrote that the supermodel seemed like she 'deliberately started talking to Miley as soon as she saw the girl walk up.' She grew up to be a global pop star in her own right, though she revealed on last Tuesday's episode of Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky, her road to fame was filled with family strife. She teased the whole family went through a 'really difficult, dark decade,' but they were able to get through it. Cyrus revealed on the podcast that the family was able to mend their fences without therapy. 'We're so messy, we didn't even do any of that,' she jokedof her family struggles, revealing the reason a therapist wasn't involved. 'Just to get each other into a room to get to counseling would have been a war,' she admitted. She told Lewinsky that, at one point of the 'dark decade,' half of her family members were not speaking to each other. She admitted that she'had a lot of loyalty' to her mother Tish Cyrus, who split with father Billy Ray back in 2022 after nearly 30 years of marriage. Before their official split and divorce that was finalized in 2023, she said that her parents were on-and-off and she revealed how that affected her. 'I watched what happens when you don't clean things up as they're happening,' she admitted. 'They really do stack. And then all of the sudden you go, "Oh my God, it's been 10 years and this is a mess I barely even know how to start. This is emotional hoarding,"' she continued. Cyrus also revealed that will be addressing her family drama more directly on her album in a song called Secrets. She explained that Secrets is about her wanting her dad 'to feel safe enough to tell [her] the things that were damning and damaging to the family'; pictured March in Beverly Hills Ultimately, the singer, 'cleaned all that up,' during a 'really important part of [her] year … putting those lines of communication back together.' 'I just kind of busted through the pile that stacked and just [went], "I'm here, you're here, let's start by having a good time together and then as we start bringing some happiness and joy into each other's life, then we'll be in a better place to have these conversations,"' she said. She also explained that it 'was easier to wave a white flag' than to go through counseling with someone else. The singer said she likes others to decide they 'like the way she's functioning' and attempt to 'mimic' it. Cyrus also revealed that will be addressing her family drama more directly on her album in a song called Secrets. She explained that Secrets is about her wanting her dad 'to feel safe enough to tell [her] the things that were damning and damaging to the family.'
