River Monsters

The series

Animal Planet's number one show and a global phenomenon, following extreme angler Jeremy Wade in pursuit of the creatures behind the world's river legends. I wrote and directed six episodes, three of them feature-length, filmed in Australia, Africa, the Americas and Europe.

My first was Invisible Executioner, on the Zambezi. Legend of Loch Ness became the highest-rated River Monsters episode at the time, and Amazon Apocalypse was, at the time, the most-watched season opener in Animal Planet's history. On the same shoot we made River of Blood, in the wetlands of Argentina, home of the golden dorado. For Prehistoric Terror, a co-production with Discovery Canada, we recreated seven species of prehistoric fish in CGI, set in real environments, some of them never visualised before. I was also executive producer on a further special, Invisible Killers, directed by Vicky Hinners.

The biggest reconstruction

Amazon Apocalypse told the story of the Sobral Santos, the Amazon's worst riverboat disaster, which sank while moored in the deepest part of the river. Recreating it became the biggest reconstruction in River Monsters history: a rebuilt boat on the Amazon itself, a steel ship in Bristol Harbour, and a dive pool in Devon, once used to test equipment, with breath-hold actors.