Wild Isles had some pretty tough acts to follow: Frozen Planet II, Blue Planet II and Planet Earth II to name the most recent blockbuster wildlife documentaries from the BBC’s Natural History Unit. All these had the luxury of a huge geographic range of locations, compared to just the British Isles, to capture unique and emotive wildlife behaviour. However, Wild Isles managed to do a lot with a little (relatively speaking) and successfully championed the unique wildlife across the UK and Ireland.
It kicked off with possibly the best sequence of the series. Hunting killer whales in Shetland were spectacular, unexpected and memorable. Their intelligence always makes fascinating viewing and gives them a real menace whenever they’re covered.
The oceans episode mixed the familiar, to divers at least, of basking sharks and seals with the extraordinary, like the sequence of hunting blue fin tuna off Cornwall. The pure spectacle alternated with the strange – the Lovecraftian scenes of tentacled star fish hunting scallops was particularly unsettling.
The producers have mastered smart storytelling. I generally find some of the anthropomorphism a bit much but I’d challenge anyone not have their heartstrings pulled by a Cuttlefish attempting to find a mate captured in a fish trap.
Episodes on rivers, woodlands and grasslands showed more familiar animals doing amazing things. The show stressed the uniqueness of some of the UK’s wildlife and habitats: that chalk streams are one of the rarest habitats on earth and 85% of them are in southern England or the relative quantity of oak trees. To me it felt slightly laboured and wasn’t needed. The footage said enough on why we should protect and treasure these environments.
It’s probably a sign of the times but it still surprises me that aspect of a wildlife show could draw ‘controversy’. However, I’m pleased to say the over enthusiastic (and distracting) sound editing of the Blue Planet II has been pared back.
The BBC clearly brought all its knowhow and technical arsenal to bear to make this another cinematic offering. The now familiar selection of drones, steadicams and long lenses were in full use. However, the most miraculous aspect of the whole series was the weather. The time it must have taken to wait, particularly for any scenes at sea, for both the animals to appear and then to combine with good weather for shooting must have been staggering.
The series kept its crucial message of conservation close to the narrative throughout but ended with Sir David Attenborough making a final plea: that now is the time to act and leave our natural world in a better state for future generations. The setting made it feel more personal – this isn’t polar bears or jungles – it’s the wildlife outside our front doors. The UK audience actually has a realistic chance of making a difference.
