Wildlife cameraman for landmark BBC documentaries including The Blue Planet and Planet Earth, who was admired for his bravery and resilience in extreme environments
Filming polar bears in their Arctic home requires bravery and patience. Of all the wildlife film-makers who bring images of the natural world to our TV screens, few were as courageous or boundlessly patient as Doug Allan, who would spend weeks, even months on end in this harsh environment in order to capture unique and astounding footage.
His long list of credits features many of the classic television series that have captivated audiences over the past few decades, including Life in the Freezer (1993), The Blue Planet (2001), Planet Earth (2006) and Frozen Planet (2011).
Doug, who has died aged 74 of a brain haemorrhage in Nepal while heading for base camp at Annapurna, was particularly admired for his work in two of the world’s toughest environments: the polar regions and beneath the ocean’s surface. He loved the challenge of filming the world’s largest and most charismatic wild creatures, once declaring: “Put me eye to eye with a big whale and I’m in heaven.”
Doug was an “old-school” cameraman from long before the days of motion-activated surveillance cameras or drones. For much of his career he shot on film, and would have to wait until he got home before knowing if he had managed to successfully capture the sequence at all.
