John Downer

John Downer (born 1952) is a British film producer of nature documentaries for television and cinema. He is best known for his contributions to the nature documentary series BBC Wildlife Specials.

Education and career Downer was born in 1952 in London. He studied zoology at Swansea University. He started his professional life in 1981 at the BBC Natural History Unit, Downer pioneered a number of techniques for wildlife filmmaking, in particular by putting cameras on birds, and by filming birds from the air using various airborne filming platforms.

Film and television credits 1988: Supersense, six-part series 1991: Lifesense, six-part series 1992: Digging in the Dirt, music video for Peter Gabriel, awarded a Grammy 1999: Supernatural: The Unseen Powers of Animals, six-part series 2000: Lions - Spy in the Den, part of BBC Wildlife Specials 2002: Weird Nature, six-part series 2003: Elephants - Spy in the Herd, part of BBC Wildlife Specials 2004: Bears - Spy in the Woods, part of BBC Wildlife Specials 2004: Pride, feature-length documentary 2007: Trek - Spy on the Wildebeest, two-part series, part of BBC Wildlife Specials 2008: Tiger - Spy in the Jungle, three-part series, part of BBC Wildlife Specials 2009: Swarm, two-part series 2010: Polar Bear - Spy on the Ice, two-part series, part of BBC Wildlife Specials 2010: Psyche, music video for Massive Attack 2011: Earthflight, six-part series 2013: Penguins - Spy in the Huddle, three-part series, part of BBC Wildlife Specials 2014: Dolphins - Spy in the Pod, two-part series, part of BBC Wildlife Specials 2017: Spy in the Wild 2018: Spy in the Snow 2019: Serengeti, six-part series 2023: Spy in the Ocean

Read also Downer, John (1989) Supersense – Perception in the Animal World. Henry Holt, New York