Silverback Films

We’re excited to share that our new Nat Geo film Billy and Molly, the story of an unlikely companionship between man and otter, will premiere next month at South by Southwest (SXSW).

Produced by Silverback Films, and from Director Charlie Hamilton James and Producer Jeff Wilson, comes a timeless love story between a man and an otter set in the remote, wild Shetland archipelago in Scotland. The film features a score from Scottish Composer Erland Cooper.

The documentary follows Billy, a salt-of-the-earth philosopher and Molly, a half-drowned, starving young female otter that Billy stumbles on one rainy evening in the Scottish subarctic. From there, an unlikely relationship begins that eventually saves them both. Billy and Molly is a remarkable story of trust, of joy and a shared love of the simple things in life.

Shot in 4K, the film captures the wild nature of the British Isles with its orcas, dolphin pods and migratory birds that come to feed on its ragged shorelines. Billy and Molly get to know each other amidst this backdrop they call home. Molly likes salmon, yellow buckets and playing in lobster pots. Billy likes shucking scallops, the feel of lichen on dry stone walls, and drinking tea. With Molly as his guide, Billy gains a heightened level of intimacy with the natural world in a way he didn’t know was possible. The film is an emotional journey, capturing the joy that accompanies a blossoming friendship and the heartbreak that comes when it’s time to part ways, as Molly must eventually relocate to go raise her otter pups.

“Billy and Molly is a beautiful, special story that encapsulates the beauty of the natural world and the effect it can have on our lives during the unlikeliest of moments,” said Tom McDonald, Executive Vice President, Global Factual and Unscripted Content, National Geographic. “The presence of nature can help rewrite our own personal histories if we take a moment to connect with it. That’s really the core of the natural history content we create at National Geographic: to encourage people around the world to connect with nature, and I think Billy and Molly will inspire viewers to do just that.

#BillyAndMolly

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Our Wild Isles series and Save Our Wild Isles films have helped drive crucial action to protect UK nature.

Yesterday, UK and Scottish governments banned industrial sand eel fishing in our North Sea waters. After 25 years of campaigning by conservation organisations, our series created a game-changing moment for the conservation effort.

In the powerful ending to Wild Isles: Our Precious Isles, Sir David Attenborough revealed the plight of puffins, sharing how overfishing and climate change are depleting the sand eels on which they depend. After our episode aired on BBC One and iPlayer, a consultation on a ban was launched by Government the very next day, with an outpouring of public support to close sand eel fisheries.

This is a huge win for internationally important and threatened seabirds, including puffins.

Our BBC series, produced by Silverback Films and co-produced by @rspb @wwf_uk and @theopenuniversity, reveals the wonder and fragility of UK nature – and why action must be taken to protect it.

Our filmmakers set out to tell stories that make a difference, we couldn’t be prouder of this incredible achievement.

We’re thrilled Silverback Films has been named on the Winners List of Best Places to Work in TV 2024. The annual Broadcast MBI awards took place in London today (24 Jan), shared valuable insights and survey findings from across the industry.

We’re passionate about our work, but also our people – and recognise we couldn’t do what we do without our brilliant Silverback family so a massive thank you to all our staff.

We’re also proud to work with others to support under represented groups in the industry; from teaming up with Babbasa and University of the West of England on work-experience placements, to a trainee researcher scheme with Creative Access, as well as partnerships with Gritty Talent and boomsatsuma.

Read more about how we’re making a difference.

At this year’s annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, a special editor’s cut of Life on Our Planet was shown to world leaders as part of the Centre for Nature and Climate gala dinner.

The session comes at a critical moment in time as the 6th mass extinction gains pace. Our 8-part series offers a new take on the extinction narrative for audiences, and for global decision-makers as they take stock of where we are, and what’s needed to ramp-up action at scale. The evening featured opening remarks from Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace and closing remarks from Al Gore , Vice-President of the United States (1993-2001); Chairman and Co-Founder, Generation Investment Management, USA; Member of Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum.

Six years in the making, Life on Our Planet combines extraordinary wildlife scenes from today with VFX of extinct creatures from the past. Connecting the present with the past in a way that has never been seen before. Spanning 4-billion years, viewers see life’s journey from its almost miraculous beginnings through the ages of fish, amphibians, reptiles, dinosaurs, mammals, and birds. Understanding that millipedes or lichens, amphibians or dragonflies have been on our planet for hundreds of millions of years is not just astonishing, it highlights why humanity must value them and do all we can to conserve their existence. 

The series is organised around the mass extinction events that have forever shaped the planet, plus the sixth we’re facing today – it tells the story of life on Earth. Today there are 20 million species on our planet, yet what we see is just a snapshot in time – 99% of earth’s inhabitants are lost to our deep past.  

While Life on Our Planet is an educational, entertaining drama of the story of life, at its heart it’s a series about conservation. It carries with it a message. A call to action and a very powerful one at that. “How we act now will determine the next chapter in the story of life.”   

Watch Life on Our Planet now, only on Netflix.

Our Planet: The official companion to our ground-breaking Netflix original Attenborough series is available as a special January Kindle Deal.

Featuring some of the world’s rarest creatures and previously unseen parts of the Earth from deep oceans to remote forests to ice caps, the 8-part Our Planet Netflix series takes nature-lovers deep into the science of our natural world. We’re all a part of this amazing planet, but we’re changing it like never before.

Written by Alastair Forhergill and Keith Scholey, and with a special foreword by David Attenborough, this companion book presents a whole new view of the place we call home. With breathtakingly beautiful still photography, specially commissioned maps and graphics, and compelling text expanding on the remarkable TV stories – it offers a depth of information that is impossible on screen.

Revealing the most amazing sights on Earth in unprecedented ways, alongside stories of the ways humans are affecting the world’s ecosystems, from the wildebeest migrations in Africa to the penguin colonies of Antarctica, this book captures in one concise narrative a fundamental message: If we don’t act now to protect and preserve our planet, the beauty we’re lucky enough to witness on these pages will have disappeared 

Buy the Kindle edition for £0.99 now (offer ends 31 January 2024). 

‘The future of all life on this earth depends on our willingness to take action now’ David Attenborough

Our Planet II has won ‘Best Episodic Series’ at the 39th International documentary Awards (IDA) Awards.

The prestigious IDA Awards took place in Los Angeles last night (Dec 12), they are dedicated to the documentary genre – celebrating the best nonfiction films and programs of the year. The shortlists and nominees are selected by independent committees of 280 documentary makers, curators, critics, and industry experts from 40 countries.

Our 4-part Netflix series reveals how every day, billions of creatures great and small are making extraordinary journeys. Together, the episodes tell an important global story with a powerful message – to preserve the planet we call home, we must preserve the freedom to move.

Watch Our Planet II now, only on Netflix.

We’re proud to share that Our Planet II: World on The Move has won the award for ‘Animal Behaviour – Long form’ at the 2023 Jackson Wild Awards. The category winner is for the film that most effectively examines animal behaviour in an innovative and illuminating way.​

Our Planet II is our 4-part Netflix series, produced by Silverback Films and narrated by Sir David Attenborough. The series was released in June (2023) and unravels the mystery of how and why animals migrate. At any given moment on planet Earth, billions of animals are on the move, through spectacular and innovative cinematography we reveal some of the most dramatic and compelling stories in the natural world.

Considered the highest bar of achievement in natural history filmmaking, the Jackson Wild Media Awards celebrate excellence and innovation in nature, science, and conservation storytelling. Over 450 films entered the competition in 2023, with over 1,100 category entries from 74 different countries around the world. Finalists were selected by more than 200 international judges who together screened over 1,000 hours of media.

Series Producer, Huw Cordey collected the award a the Grand Teton Awards Gala on Thursday, September 28 at the Jackson Wild Summit in Grand Teton National Park, WY.