{"id":263303,"date":"2025-11-05T02:19:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T02:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/263303\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T02:19:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T02:19:12","slug":"bbcs-kingdom-series-gets-viewers-into-the-action-with-tv-drama-techniques-bbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/263303\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC\u2019s Kingdom series gets viewers \u2018into the action\u2019 with TV drama techniques | BBC"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Attenborough\u2019s<\/a> new BBC series Kingdom has broken ground by using elements from TV dramas, such as cliffhangers and drone and moving-camera shots, to immerse viewers \u201cinto the action\u201d like the hit Netflix drama Adolescence<\/a> did.<\/p>\n

Since the advent of streaming services, there has been an increase in natural history TV shows thanks to the worldwide appeal of the genre popularised by Attenborough and the renowned BBC Studios natural history unit (NHU)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From Apple TV\u2019s nature adventure series The Wild Ones to the Ryan Reynolds-voiced Underdogs on Disney+ and National Geographic, natural history programmes are big business, but they are having to evolve in a crowded market.<\/p>\n

Kingdom follows four families of lions, leopards, wild dogs and hyenas living by a river in Zambia to document, for the first time, how their interactions impact one another after a pack of wild dogs arrive in the territory.<\/p>\n

The producers claim the six-part series sets a new \u201cgold standard\u201d in filming \u2013 following the action closer by switching between moving cameras and tiny \u201cflying cinematographer\u201d camera drones, which animals don\u2019t notice as much as human camera operators.<\/p>\n

Felicity Lanchester, the series producer, said when drones first came out, film-makers thought they were ideal for replacing helicopters to get aerial shots, but as they have become smaller and quieter and crew more skilled at flying them \u201cthey\u2019ve become a way to get intimate footage\u201d.<\/p>\n

She explained: \u201cYou can fly them along the shoulders of wild dogs and it feels like you\u2019re really running and weaving through the landscapes as they weave through the land and places where [people] can\u2019t follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lanchester said the NHU team flew the drones \u201cto stay with the animals\u201d while cameras on vehicles moved around to try to predict where the creatures were going to \u201cpop out\u201d, thus enabling continuous filming of the action.<\/p>\n

Although it was filmed before Adolescence came out, the executive producer Mike Gunton agreed the mix between drones and moving cameras creates the immersive experience enjoyed by viewers of the Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham drama.<\/p>\n

Gunton said: \u201cIt\u2019s a really important part of the look; we\u2019ve used the technology to conceal our work, in a way. I hope people go, \u2018God, that\u2019s a cool shot\u2019. But that\u2019s not the aim. The aim is to put you right in the action. Subliminally \u2026 I think the reason why so much drama has moving cameras is because it makes you feel like you\u2019re on set.<\/p>\n

The \u2018cast\u2019 of lions, leopards, wild dogs, and hyenas were given names by the crew. Photograph: Anna Place\/BBC Studios<\/p>\n

\u201cSo this is trying to get the same approach. The team has taken this to a new level. I think this will now be the kind of gold standard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The drama between the four species was so Shakespearean, with the fortunes of one species affecting another as they vied for territory and food on what Gunton called \u201cthe main stage\u201d of the filming area, that BBC<\/a> Studios decided to end episodes on a cliffhanger \u2013 hooking viewers into the next instalment.<\/p>\n

During the five years of filming \u2013 the longest the NHU has ever shot in one place \u2013 the four species were followed by their own team of crew, who had a \u201cleaderboard\u201d of which group was doing best, but series editor Simon Blakeney said the NHU was determined \u201cthere were no villains\u201d as all the creatures\u2019 existences are intertwined.<\/p>\n

The \u201ccast\u201d of animals were also given names and interactions were filmed that not only reflect the enduring fight between cats and dogs but also create empathy \u2013 including what the producer of Team Wild Dogs, Anna Place, called an \u201cincredibly emotional\u201d story about dogs\u2019 social bonds featuring a three-legged hound called Flint.<\/p>\n

Other innovations included new light-sensitive cameras allowing an hour extra of filming each day and an entirely solar-powered base camp.<\/p>\n

The crew endured hardships during the shoot, including their bathroom being wrecked by elephants, a producer being chased by a loo brush-brandishing baboon and a cobra and crocodile invading tents.<\/p>\n

Gunton said 99-year-old Attenborough\u2019s narration helps \u201creassure you that it will be all right in the end\u201d. But, \u201cwhat David liked about it was that it is an ecology. One of the things that I think appealed to [him] when we talked about it, is we haven\u2019t ever really [before] been able to show animals literally \u2026 in the same environment in a sequence \u2026 actually interacting and causing some change in the fortunes of one of the other ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the key; these animals don\u2019t live in isolation \u2026 they can\u2019t escape the impact of the other creatures. There\u2019s this ecological connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kingdom airs on BBC One and iPlayer Sunday 9 November<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Attenborough\u2019s new BBC series Kingdom has broken ground by using elements from TV dramas, such as cliffhangers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-263303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}