Andrew Cooper is one of Britain’s most distinguished and influential television producers. As a broadcaster, presenter, writer and international award winning wildlife film-maker, he is a familiar face on BBC television through his documentaries and live reports on wildlife and environment issues. A biologist by training his work as a television producer with the BBC Natural History Unit based in Bristol consumes most of his time.
Since 1979 Andrew Cooper has been responsible for the filming and production of over forty major natural history documentaries for network television and more than a hundred other programmes. As a television broadcaster and producer working with the prestigious BBC Natural History Unit, he has travelled world-wide. In just 15 years alone he visited over 35 different countries, from Arctic Russia to Australia, and Hawaii to the Himalayas. With his background as an environment correspondent for BBC South West, he is perhaps nationally better known as the presenter and series producer of the successful, long running, BBC 'Secret Nature' television series. More recently he has been responsible for some of the most distinctive programming in the internationally renowned ‘BBC Natural World' strand. His programmes regularly feature in the top ten most watched wildlife television documentaries in Britain and have been widely sold overseas. He is also the author of seven books, some of which, published by the BBC, have ranked among the top ten best selling books in the country over the last decade.
Among his television productions was a BBC NHU special programme for New Years Day, ‘In the Eye of the Wind’ was a tribute to the late Sir Peter Scott and a celebration of the organisation he founded, the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust. Written and produced by Andrew Cooper and narrated by Sir David Attenborough, it was the one of the highest rating documentaries on British television that Christmas. Over the last few years, ‘When the North Wind Blows’, ‘The Lost Lands of Scilly’, ‘Treasure Islands’, ‘Five Owl Farm’ and ‘The Farm - that time forgot’, also ranked among the highest rating Natural World documentaries on BBC television. The latter programme, not only won a Royal Television Society award for the best Network Documentary, but at the time, provoked the biggest positive response to a wildlife documentary ever recorded by the BBC NHU. A couple of years later, ‘Five Owl Farm’ was also the highest rating BBC Natural World documentary of the year.
Outside of television over the past 25 years, Andrew Cooper has been involved with many charities as a Vice-President of the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust; Chairman of the Devon Wildlife Trust; a Trustee of the world class National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth and a Trustee of the Whitley Wildlife Trust, the owners of Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts, Newquay Zoo and Slapton National Nature Reserve. As a long serving board member of some of the premier educational wildlife experiences in Britain and a non-executive director of a leading health care trust, he has a sought after combination of commercial talents. His reputation as a corporate visionary and a unique combination of skills in senior management, environment, media and marketing, have been eagerly sought by companies and organisations keen to strengthen their boards.
Andrew Cooper is an entertaining after dinner speaker on his often amusing life as a wildlife film maker. He also lectures widely on his film topics, wildlife conservation and the media, as well as script writing and donates his time freely to many charities.
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