How does Blue Planet III capture the hidden lives of marine animals? BBC’s Jonny Keeling discusses wildlife filming, new technology, ocean conservation and China-UK collaboration in Beijing.
An octopus leaves the water at low tide to hunt on land. Dolphins use sea sponges while searching for food among coral reefs. In the waters around Japan, more than 200 million porcelain crabs gather in one of the largest aggregations ever recorded.
The ocean is full of remarkable animal behaviour. Yet capturing these moments on camera takes years of research, patience and technical innovation.
Nine years after the second series, the BBC’s Blue Planet returns with a third instalment. The six-part series explores five major marine habitats, from tropical seas and the open ocean to seasonal seas, polar waters and the deep. Its final episode, Future Seas, looks at the future of the oceans and the efforts to protect them.
At a special screening in Beijing on November 2nd, Jonny Keeling, head of the Natural History Unit at BBC Studios, shared the stories and challenges behind its production.
The team spent around four and a half years making the series. For Keeling, one of the biggest challenges was finding fresh stories that could surprise audiences while living up to the reputation of the first two series.
Finding New Stories Beneath the Waves
The production team collected more than 1,000 animal stories for the new series. When choosing which ones to film, they considered not only whether the behaviour was unusual, but also whether they could capture it and build a compelling story around it.
Simply showing an animal on screen may hold viewers’ attention for only a short time, Keeling explained. What keeps them watching is what happens next: how an animal responds to a challenge, finds food or deals with danger.
One example is an octopus that leaves the water at low tide to search for food along the shore. Octopuses normally live and breathe underwater. Without a skeleton to support its body, moving on land is difficult. If it travels too far inland, it may struggle to return to the sea.
For Keeling, the story is not simply about an unusual octopus. It shows the lengths an animal will go to in order to survive.
Capturing such behaviour also requires the right equipment. The team spent years trying to film bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Western Australia. Scientists had long wondered why some dolphins carry sponges on their beaks. However, close-up filming risked disturbing their natural behaviour.
To solve the problem, the team developed an underwater camera system called Stonefish. It works like a camera stationed on the seabed and can remain underwater for around 24 hours. The system allows filmmakers to record dolphins without having to stay close to them.
The footage helped explain why the dolphins carry sponges, revealing a previously undocumented hunting technique. According to BBC’s production notes, the filming helped solve a mystery that had puzzled scientists for around 40 years.
Deep-sea filming brings another set of challenges. The team designed a camera rig that extends outside a submersible and points back towards it, capturing the vessel as it travels underwater. The equipment is built to withstand the immense pressure found at depths of two to four kilometres.
Drones have also changed the way the team films marine animals. When dozens of sharks gather in shallow water, aerial footage reveals their formations and hunting strategies. Long-range lenses can then capture details of individual animals.
The production team also used Chinese-made drones. Compared with helicopters, drones are easier to transport and can help reduce emissions during aerial filming.
Technology has also helped the team manage the thousands of hours of footage collected during production. Keeling said AI can assist with sorting material and identifying relevant clips. However, the team does not use AI to generate images of wildlife.
The animals and their behaviour must still be captured in the wild. As AI-generated content becomes more common, Keeling said, authentic footage of nature remains particularly valuable.
China-UK Collaboration Behind Nature Documentaries
International collaboration has also played a part in the production of nature documentaries. Chinese-made drones featured in Blue Planet III, while Chinese camera operators have contributed to other BBC natural history projects.
Keeling highlighted the work of Chinese cinematographer Pan Guangping, who filmed the Tibetan fox story for the BBC series Asia, released last year. He also recalled a training programme that brought Chinese professionals interested in wildlife filming to the UK. Some later joined international productions.
Keeling has also worked on Wild China, a documentary project involving close cooperation between Chinese and British teams. He said he particularly enjoyed filming in China, where he encountered remarkable landscapes and rare wildlife.
He sees opportunities for further cooperation, including joint productions, talent development and the exchange of filming expertise. Bringing local camera operators into international teams can also reduce the need for crews to travel long distances from the UK, helping to cut production-related emissions.
For Keeling, international cooperation brings together different skills and perspectives. It also helps documentary makers discover stories that might otherwise remain out of reach.
From Discovering Nature to Protecting It
Alongside new discoveries, Blue Planet III also examines the changes affecting marine ecosystems.
Keeling said filming in polar regions has become more difficult. Some areas where the team previously found compelling wildlife stories have changed, making it harder to capture similar scenes again.
The series also explores the relationships between marine animals and their habitats. Stories about clownfish and sea anemones, as well as footage of seagrass beds and mangroves, show how different parts of the marine ecosystem depend on one another.
The final episode , Future Seas, turns its attention to people working to protect the ocean. Scientists, conservationists and local communities share their efforts and the results they have achieved.
Keeling said he wanted the series to do more than show environmental problems. After years of research, people have a better understanding of the threats facing the ocean. They have also begun to find ways to address them.
He believed it was more effective to focus on practical solutions, give people hope and encourage optimism than to simply point fingers over environmental problems.
The BBC’s production materials also highlight examples of marine recovery. In waters around New York City, sharks, dolphins and humpback whales have returned in greater numbers, showing how conservation efforts can help marine life recover.
For Keeling, a nature documentary’s impact goes beyond viewing figures. Families across generations can watch the same programme and continue talking about it the next day, whether on a bus or in the office. In this way, creatures that once seemed distant become part of everyday conversations.
That connection between living things is perhaps best captured in a scene near the end of the first episode, Tropical Seas. It tells the story of clownfish and coral, showing how different forms of life depend on and protect one another. As the anemone becomes bleached, the clownfish fan it with their fins, helping to improve water circulation and remove debris. When the team returned three months later, the anemone had recovered. The relationship is a reminder of how closely life is connected to the ocean we all share.
As the episode points out, coral reefs as we know them could disappear within the next 25 years. These tiny fish help protect their home. “Imagine what we could achieve if we all worked together to protect ours.”
Additional reporting by Ziwei Lee.
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