Peter Jones 

Co-founder of Green Umbrella Productions, Peter Jones became interested in the natural world whilst working as a young director at Granada in the 1960s - at a time when environmental issues were only just starting to be addressed. In response, Peter moved to BBC2's Horizon, a weekly programme on science and was the producer behind the highly controversial programme Science is Dead – Long Live Science, which profiled people who were trying to create a new environmental approach to science, something Peter was passionate about.

In June 1979, Chris Parsons appointed Peter as series editor for The World About Us which, combined with Richard Dawkins' 1976 book The Selfish Gene, inspired Peter to approach animal behaviour based films in new ways. However, after a couple of years Peter and the other Bristol-based producers became disillusioned with the partnership running the strand, with a London department providing programmes on an alternate weekly basis to Bristol's natural history programmes. When Graham Macdonald took over as Controller of BBC2, the programmes coming from Bristol had the greater audience numbers and together with Sheila Fulham and Barry Paine, The Natural World strand was created with Peter appointed as the first series editor. Under Peter's editorship a new generation of filmmakers approached wildlife filmmaking in a new way, and produced award-winning programmes such as Kingdom of the Ice Bear (1985).

In November 1986, Peter was approached by David Attenborough to work on a new series based entirely on the study of animal behaviour and rooted in science - The Trials of Life. The following year, Peter left The Natural World to take up the position of series producer on one of the BBC's most eminent series.

Peter then turned his attention to creating an independent operation in Bristol and teamed up with filmmaker Nigel Ashcroft, founding Green Umbrella in April 1991. Since the company's establishment output has diversified from natural history films to specialising in earth science programmes with films such as Journey to the Centre of the Earth, which won the Best Earth Science Programme award at the Jackson Hole Film Festival in 2003. Peter has a particular interest in the history of science, which is reflected in the emergence of a new strand of programmes such as the drama-documentary, Galileo's Daughter, which won an Emmy award for Best Documentary in 2003.

Oral History

WildFilmHistory Films

The World About Us (1967 - 1987): Forest in the Clouds (1977)	Graphics
The World About Us (1967 - 1987): Kopje - A Rock for All Seasons (1980)	Series Editor
The Rotten World About Us (1980)	Series Editor
The World About Us (1967 - 1987): Tree of Thorns (1980)	Series Editor
The World About Us (1967 - 1987): In Pursuit of the Boar (1982)	Series Editor
The World About Us (1967 - 1987): A Highly Desirable Residence (1983)	Series Editor
The World About Us (1967 - 1987): Forest in the Sea (1983)	Series Editor
The Natural World (BBC 1983 - 2012): The Desire of the Moth (1984)	Series Editor
Kingdom of the Ice Bear: The Frozen Ocean (1985)	Series Editor
The Natural World (BBC 1983 - 2012): The Man Who Loves Frogs (1985)	Series Editor
The Trials of Life: Arriving (1990)	Executive Producer
The Trials of Life: Hunting and Escaping (1990)	Executive Producer
Vampires, Devilbirds and Spirits: Tales of the Calypso Isles (1994)	Executive Producer
They Said It Couldn't Be Done: Kingdom of the Ice Bear: The Frozen Ocean (1999)	Series Editor