Fergus Beeley

Fergus Michael Edmund Beeley (born 1962)^[1] is an English wildlife conservationist and filmmaker. He is best known for his work producing films for BBC Natural World, including "White Falcon, White Wolf"; "The Eagle Has Landed"; "Return of the Eagle Owl"; "Spectacled Bears: Shadows of the Forest" and Planet Earth – The Future. He joined the BBC Natural History Unit in 1990 and spent over 12 years producing award-winning series, including Planet Earth – The Future and The Life of Birds in collaboration with David Attenborough.

Early life

Fergus was born in Tonbridge, Kent.^[2] In 1982, he graduated from the University of Durham (Hatfield College) with a degree in anthropology, earning a 2:2.^[3] He completed his thesis with the Pitjantjatjara tribe of Aboriginals in central Australia. An extraordinary reference from the elders gained Fergus a successful interview with the BBC Natural History Unit.^[4]

Career

Fergus joined the BBC Natural History Unit in 1990 and has spent his career specialising in natural history programmes for television. This includes producing the award-winning Planet Earth: The Future, The Life of Birds and PBS Nature: "Jungle Eagle".

A month before Fergus was due to depart to Ellesmere Island for filming of the documentary "White Falcon, White Wolf", he fell whilst filming high up in the Andes and was flown back to the UK by air ambulance for surgery on a broken ankle. This meant he could not be on location with the crew for filming and had to assist via GPS and edit from his hospital bed.^[5][6]

In 2009 Fergus spent a year in the rural Scottish Highlands on Beinn Eighe and neighbouring Loch Maree, filming the documentary "A Highland Haven".^[7][8][9]

Film and TV credits

Planet Earth: The Future (2006) – series producer

• Episode: "Living Together"
• Episode: "Into the Wilderness"
• Episode: "Saving Species"

BBC Natural World strand:

• Episode: "The Beach Boys" (1992) – producer
• Episode: "Kimberley – Land of the Wandjina" (1993) – presenter
• Episode: "Tiger of the Highlands" (1994) - producer
• Episode: "Gannets The Storm Birds" (1996) – producer
• Episode: "The insatiable Appetite" (1998) – producer
• Episode: "Spectacled Bears: Shadows of the Forest" (2008) – producer & director
• Episode: "A Highland Haven" (2009)- producer and presenter
• Episode: "Magic of the Snowy Owl" (2012) – writer and producer
• Documentary: "The Monkey-Eating Eagle of the Orinoco" (2010)^[10] – producer

Wildlife on One

• Episode: "Stoats in the Priory" (1996) – producer

The Life of Birds:

• Episode: "The Mastery of Flight" (1998) - producer
• Episode: "Meat Eaters" (1998) – producer

PBS Nature strand:

• "Jungle Eagle" (2011) ^[11][12]– director
• "White Falcon, White Wolf" (2008) ^[13]- producer

National Geographic Explorer:

• "Owls: Silent Hunters" (2002) – presenter

Terra Mater ORF's Natural History Unit:

• Schnee-Eulen - Schwingen über der Arktis (2012) – writer and producer

Conservation

Fergus has created a community conservation project called the BLUE Campaign, which encourages anyone with access to a green space to give a piece back to nature, helping to develop a connection to nature and promote biodiversity in their area.^[14] The scheme was piloted in Chipping Sodbury in 2017 and will be rolled out nationwide in 2019.^[15] He is a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and patron of Flamingo Conservation Rift Valley.

Fergus was executive director for a company called Fountain Digital Labs, which developed a children's wildlife entertainment app called Virry, which won a Webby Award in 2015 and a BAFTA for best interactive children's original app.^[16]

Author

In 2006 Fergus co-authored Planet Earth: The Future – What the Experts Say in conjunction with Rosalind Kidman Cox and Jonathan Porritt ( ISBN 978-0-563-53905-6). It was published by BBC Books on 5 October 2006.^[17]

In 2010 he co-authored a paper in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology entitled "Hatching Synchrony, Green Branch Collecting, and Prey Use by Nesting Harpy Eagles (Harpia harpyja)" regarding the observation of an occupied harpy eagle nest over three separate periods in eastern Venezuela.^[18]

Road rage incident

On 22 July 2017, Fergus was involved in a violent confrontation in a car park of a service station off the M27 motorway. The confrontation apparently resulted from an earlier incident on the motorway. During the encounter, Fergus was filmed threatening a family (including a child) with a citizen's arrest, shouting obscenities, attacking a man, and telling the occupants to "get ready to die". ^[19] Footage of the incident circulated widely over social media and was reported by numerous news outlets.^[20]

The incident played out as follows:

[A family - a man, his wife, their son and the woman's daughter (the man's stepdaughter) are in their car. The mother is driving. The father is in the front passenger seat with the door open. Beeley is standing outside the car, leaning into the open passenger door.]

Mother: Go, Simon. Hurry up.

Beeley: Give me your phone, cause I'll hang it ...

Mother: The police are coming.

Beeley: Come out of your vehicle.

Mother: The police are coming.

Beeley: Good.

Mother: Good? You said you're a police officer.

Beeley: No.

Mother: Yeah - yes you did. I will ask them what rank you are.

Beeley: You're the police officer. I've not called the police officer.

Mother: No, you said you were a police officer.

Beeley: No fucking I didn't.

[Satnav announcer: Turn left towards Charles Watts Way, A334.]

Beeley: I wouldn't say that to a bunch of wankers like you.

Mother: Pardon? Do not speak to me like that!

Beeley: You deserve it! You're all sluts! Big sluts!

Mother: You just said to me - you said you were an off-duty police officer.

Beeley: No, I don't talk to wankers like that.

Mother: You said you were ...

[The father (Simon) gets out of the car]

Younger female: OK, can you go away now please? Simon, shut the door.

Mother: You fucking hammer.

[Simon attempts to shut the door, but Beeley puts his leg in the way to prevent the door from shutting. Beeley then leans into the car]

Beeley: We've got you know, haven't we?

[The door then shuts]

Daughter: Mum!

[Beeley and Simon can now be seen, through the car windscreen, arguing outside. As the video is being filmed from inside the car, their conversation is inaudible]

Mother: Get the fucking door.

[The door opens, the mother gets out and the daughter closes the door. A window is open, so the conversation is reasonably audible]

Mother: You said you were an off-duty police officer.

Beeley [jabbing his finger towards the mother]: I'm putting you under a citizen's arrest!

Mother: Go on then, what for?

Beeley: For abuse, for dangerous driving and for assault.

Mother: Oh my goodness ...

Beeley: All three. You're under a citizen's arrest. [Shouting] You're bloody right I do!

Mother [shouting]: You said you want us dead!

Beeley [screaming]: I do want you dead! In fact, I want you dead right now! Get back in your car before you die! [Beeley opens the passenger door and briefly attempts to force Simon back into the car. But a second later, Beeley slams the car door shut again] You get back in your car before you die! And you will! You're under a citizen's arrest! Put your hands on the car and get ready to die!

[The daughter can be heard almost crying, off camera]

Beeley [screaming]: You're under a citizen's arrest!

Daughter: Simon, open the door.

Beeley [screaming and jabbing his finger at each family member in turn]. You're under a citizen's arrest! You're under a citizen's arrest! And I'll tell you what, you are too! [Points at the couple's son, who is sitting in the back seat of the car]

Mother [screaming]: That's my fucking son! That's my 11-year-old son!

At this point, a woman unknown to either Beeley or the family turns up, and the mother of the family asks the woman to be a witness. The woman agrees and remonstrates briefly with Beeley. Beeley falsely accuses the mother of punching him, and then explains that he is angry because of an incident on the motorway, in which Beeley alleges dangerous driving on the part of the mother, who was driving.

External links

• https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1628415/
• http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bac4547e1

References