Mick Rhodes obituary

Director, producer and head of the BBC's Natural History Unit best known for Life on Earth, Badger Watch and Wildlife on OneWhen Mick Rhodes, who has died aged 83, arrived in Bristol in the autumn of 1972 to take over as head of the BBC's Natural History Unit he knew that, back in London, a great deal was expected of him, and that his task was going make him unpopular with practically everyone. He was the new broom brought in from the BBC science series Horizon over the heads of the unit's own producers to rejuvenate it.The Natural History Unit had been trying to mount an ambitious global series on the life of the planet, an epic to match series such as The Ascent of Man. What had attracted attention to Mick was that one of his Horizon programmes, The Making of a Natural History Film, had won the recent best factual programme Bafta award and had then gone on to win the international Prix Italia. Continue reading...