Yahoo News David Attenborough Asia team reveal when important wildlife rule gets broken
David Attenborough BBC wildlife filmmakers have broken the golden rule in the past
Not stepping in with nature is the unspoken rule of all wildlife filmmakers — but times are changing.
As David Attenborough's Asia streams on iPlayer, producer Matthew Wright and exec producer Roger Webb have spoken out about times where BBC filming crews have broken their golden rule and exactly why they do it.
Asked about intervening with the animals while filming, Wright told Yahoo: "The reason that we might get involved would be if an animal is in some form of trouble or distress because of something that human beings have done."
Memorable examples include Planet Earth III's crew in the 2023 series rescuing trapped turtles from plastic fishing nets, put in the sea by humans.
This wasn't the case when the Dynasties team saved the penguins from a gully in the 2018 documentary.
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Wright explained: "There's some instances, where people helped turtles out of fishing nets. Dynasties was very different because there was a huge load of defenceless penguins who couldn't escape from a gully. If the crew came across something like that, I think we would step in because we're big fans of the natural world and you can't really stand by when something like that is happening."
However, in Asia, the BBC filming crew didn't face this issue, the producers explained, because it's a "really wild place" where animals don't often face trouble because of people.
Wright pointed out why it was equally important to not step in when animals are in trouble because of other animals. That doesn't make it easy to watch these moments play out though.
He said: "But that said, Asia is really wild place, so there wasn't that kind of issue where they were seeing animals in trouble because of people.
"But if a predator is hunting, if a wolf is hunting an antelope, you let the wolf get on with it. Because ultimately, if the wolf doesn't make the kill, then the wolf pups go hungry. If the wolf does make the kill, the antelope unfortunately is killed.
"It doesn't mean it's enjoyable to watch. It's not pleasant, but those situations you don't get involved because that's the natural order of things. And predators deserve as much as a shot as the creatures being hunted."
Webb was in agreement that they would not get involved in a natural situation, compared to a human-made problem where wildlife filmmakers would likely take action. Passionate about animals, the executive producer explained what he wants people to take away from their documentary.
Webb said: "If it's a natural situation, my instinct would be never to get involved personally. But if it's an unnatural situation, as Matthew talked about, as he said, sea turtles caught in a fisherman's rope or something like that, then yes, we would most likely get involved because ultimately we're wildlife filmmakers.
"We're also passionate about the natural world and it runs through all of us. We love making documentaries but we love wildlife and we want you to know the best for it. We want to showcase it.
"And that's what ultimately we hope people will take away from the series: a real love and respect for the natural world, which naturally, we all hope will make you want to care about it more and do the right thing by it."
All seven episodes of Asia presented by Sir David Attenborough are available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.
