Dan Beecham - Underwater Cinematographer

Back in 2015, I was fortunate enough to work for two intensive years on the BBC’s long awaited follow-up to the 2001 land-mark series ‘The Blue Planet’. Over two years I worked in field for over 300 days, in over twenty locations around the globe. Blue Planet II went on to become a global phenomenon, garnering multiple award nominations and wins, as well as becoming the most watched TV programme of 2017 - doing what few wildlife series’ get to do - punctuate into popular culture, and make a real impact by raising awareness of conservation issues. Jump to a ten years later later and the BBC is about to release the follow-up to the follow-up - Blue Planet III…

From 2024 to 2026 I was lucky enough to work on a few shoots for Blue Planet III - making a much smaller contribution to the third iteration of this monumental series than I did for Blue Planet II, but still one I’m very proud of.

Getting to be a tiny cog in the huge machine that is one of these huge series, with hundreds of people involved across various disciplines and specialities, is a great privilege.

My main contribution to the series was in the ‘Open Ocean’ episode - which for marine enthusiasts like myself is often the episode we enjoy viewing the most, despite it being an incredibly challenging and demanding environment to work in. 

For anyone of my generation and who works in my profession, The Blue Planet made an enormous impact in our lives. It has been one of the greatest privileges of my life getting to work on these follow-up productions - getting to contribute to Blue Planet III, in even a small way makes me enormously proud. As an 18 year old who was somewhat adrift when the original series first aired, I found direction in those amazing episodes of television that aired on BBC1 every Wednesday in the Autumn of 2001.

The series gave me direction and purpose in life, giving me the drive to pursue a career as an underwater cinematographer. The 18 year old me would never believe I would get to contribute to Blue Plant 2, let alone Blue Planet 3 - and get to see my footage with Sir David Attenborough’s narration over it. Hopefully Blue planet 3 will inspire the next generation of underwater filmmakers down thieir own paths…