Robin Brown grew up in Southern Rhodesia and from a young age has been interested and involved in wildlife conservation. Following university in South Africa Brown got a job at the Rhodesia Herald, eventually going on to become Reuters parliamentary correspondent for Central Africa at the young age of 20. At a similarly young age he became controller of Rhodesian television when he was just 24.
It was whilst in this capacity that he met a young David Attenborough who would later offer him a job at the BBC when he was forced to return to the UK after being critical of Ian Smith’s white minority rule in Rhodesia. Although Brown didn’t accept Attenborough’s job offer, he did accept a job in television from Bob Heller at Associated Television (ATV).
He started by making a programme called ‘Animal Wars’ for ATV and would go on to make a further 4 for the company. As well as ATV he made documentaries for the Discovery Channel and National Geographic of which his productions about Whales are most noted.
In 1982 he paired up with Julian Pettifer to produce ‘Nature Watch’. A series with a run of 68 episodes, the pair pioneered a new type of format in which the eccentric, human, wildlife enthusiast were documented as much as the animals themselves.
Robin Brown has written a plethora of works about Wildlife which engage with the natural world, politics, Africa, conservation and more; a pursuit he is continuing with in semi-retirement. During his career Brown’s roles have included being executive producer of natural history at Central Television, as well as creative director for Oxford Scientific Films.
View the oral history of Robin Brown Lure Of The Dolphins (1976) | Director |
| Nature Watch: Mauritius Kestrel (1981) | Producer, Director |
| Nature Watch: The Mountain Gorilla (1983) | Director, Producer, Script |
| Nature Watch: Fish (1985) | Producer, Director, Script |
| Nature Watch: Chimps in Crisis (1988) | Producer, Director |
| Incredible Suckers (1996) | Writer, Director |
