Micro Monsters 3D With David Attenborough premieres in June
NATURALIST EXPLORES THE EXTREME AND DEADLY UNSEEN WORLD OF BUGS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 3D
Sky 3D and Colossus Productions today (1 May, 2013) announce a brand new three part series MICRO MONSTERS 3D WITH DAVID ATTENBOROUGH that will premiere exclusively to Sky customers on Saturday 15th June on Sky 3D and in 2D on Sky 1/HD.
In this revolutionary new series, Sir David Attenborough will reveal the marvellous adaptability of bugs, using pioneering macroscopic 3D techniques to explore in unparalleled detail the intricate, sophisticated behaviours of these fascinating creatures and the complexity of the environments they build and inhabit, in a world normally hidden from the human eye.
From armies of killer ants to spiders weaving silken trap doors, ferocious scorpions with paralysing stings and beetles shooting boiling chemicals at their enemies, bees communicating with a waggle dance and assassin bugs that clothe themselves in their victims’ corpses; Sir David Attenborough will – for the first time ever in 3D – take viewers deep into the macroscopic world of bugs.
Written and presented by the multi-award winning natural history broadcaster, MICRO MONSTERS 3D WITH DAVID ATTENBOROUGH marks his fifth 3D project with Atlantic Productions and Colossus for Sky. It follows the success of the BAFTA®, Wildscreen and Jackson Hole Award-winning FLYING MONSTERS 3D, as well as RTS winner THE BACHELOR KING 3D, BAFTA® nominated KINGDOM OF PLANTS 3D and the critically acclaimed GALAPAGOS 3D.
Each of the six episodes will explore a different aspect of the little-known lives of insects. From the vicious array of armoury and deceptive defensive mechanisms harboured by spiders and scorpions in Conflict (15th June), to the amazing ways these bugs defeat their prey in Predator (22nd June). Courtship (29th June) explores the search to create the next generation of bugs, and after courtship comes Sex (6th July) with every male wanting to ensure the next generation is his. The penultimate episode, Colony (13th July), witnesses the creation of colonies and investigates how these incredible social arrangements develop, how they become successful and how they maintain their militant structure, and the series finale Super-organism (20th July) explores how these colonies can become so vast that they rival human megacities in both size and complexity.
Commissioned by Celia Taylor, Sky’s Head of Factual and Features and Executive Produced by Anthony Geffen, Executive Producer and CEO of Atlantic Productions, MICRO MONSTERS 3D WITH DAVID ATTENBOROUGH is part of Sky’s commitment to increase its investment in original British content by 50% over the next three years. By 2014, Sky expects to invest £600million a year in British programmes across its portfolio of channels.
Since launching Sky 3D in October 2010 Sky has broken new ground across a range of genres, including natural history, live music, the arts, sports and movies. Highlights have included previous David Attenborough 3D projects Flying Monsters 3D, The Bachelor King 3D, Kingdom of Plants 3D, Galapagos 3D as well as live 3D broadcasts of a number of musical and dance performances including the Got To Dance Live Final and Kylie Minogue Live From The O2, the 3D TV world premieres of Avatar, Alice in Wonderland and the Toy Story Trilogy as well as more than 150 live sports broadcast spanning a range of domestic and international sports.
MICRO MONSTERS 3D WITH DAVID ATTENBOROUGH premieres on Saturday 15th June on Sky 3D and in 2D on Sky 1/HD.
For more information visit www.sky.com/micromonsters
Notes to editor
For further information please contact:
Jai Dattani
Jai.dattani@freud.com / 020 3003 6448
Oliver Bradley
Oliver.bradley@freud.com / 020 3003 6352
Notes To Editors:
About Colossus Productions
Colossus Productions is the production company formed by Sky and Atlantic Productions in 2011.The joint venture was created to develop and produce high-end 3D programming for UK and International audiences, including the rapidly growing number of Sky 3D homes. Its first production, Galapagos 3D, was one of the highest rated factual programmes on both Sky 3D and Sky1 in recent years.
About Atlantic Productions
Atlantic Productions is one of the world’s leading factual production companies. It recently won a BAFTA, three Emmy’s and best IMAX award for three different productions in one year.
Atlantic Productions has produced several of the last two decades’ landmark television programmes and series. These include: triple Emmy-winning David Attenborough’s First Life; The Emmy-winning Jerusalem – City of Heaven; BAFTA-nominated Munich: Mossad’s Revenge; the triple Emmy-nominated The Promised Land five-part series,narrated by Morgan Freeman, and the award-winningthree-part series, Prohibition. The Emmy-nominated Nefertiti Resurrected, The Link, Predator X and the multi-part series; Egypt unwrapped, Rome Unwrapped, and the Greeks: Crucible of Civilisation.
Recent 3D and theatrical film highlights include the BAFTA winning Flying Monsters 3D with David Attenborough now showing in IMAX cinemas worldwide. This film also won the Best 3D film at The Jackson Hole and Wildscreen. , The Wildest Dream – Conquest of Everest, narrated by Liam Neeson,won Best IMAX award. ; RTS-winning The Bachelor King 3D is currently airing around the world. The three-part Bafta-nominated series KINGDOM OF PLANTS 3D with David Attenborough aired in the summer of 2012, and GALAPAGOS 3D WITH DAVID ATTENBOROUGH aired on New Year’s Day to record ratings. All these productions have been complemented using apps and other digital platforms.
Some of Atlantic’s current productions include Touching the Past (WT) a six-part series for PBS and National Geographic, and Rise of Animals with David Attenborough for BBC and PBS.
About Sky
Sky entertains and excites more than 10.4 million homes through the most comprehensive multichannel, multi-platform television service in the UK and Ireland. Sky continues to break new ground with its own portfolio of channels: Sky 1 combines its commitment to UK production with the best of the US; Sky Living pushes ahead with fresh and innovative entertainment formats; Sky Arts is the UK's only dedicated arts channel brand; Sky Atlantic is the home to HBO and other iconic drama and comedy, Sky Sports is still raising the bar in sports broadcasting; Sky News remains a pioneer in television news; and Sky Movies is leading the way in High Definition and on-demand.
Sky also works with dozens of other broadcasters on the satellite platform, as well as online and on mobile through the ground-breaking Sky Go service. Sky has also led the UK into the age of high definition television, launched Europe's first 3DTV channel, Sky 3D, and offers customer even more flexibility and choice through Sky Anytime+, its internet-delivered video on demand service. Since launching Sky Broadband and Sky Talk in 2006, the company has also been the UK's fastest-growing home communications provider.
Sky believes in making a wider contribution to the communities in which it operates, not least by increasing participation in, and access to, the arts, supporting grassroots sports, and taking positive action on the environment.
Episode information
Episode 1 – Conflict(15th June 2013)
The hunt for food brings bugs into conflict. Some develop extraordinary ways to attack… Others have devastatingly effective defences.
Featuring: the acid-spraying Bombardier Beetle; the Antlion’s deadly sandpit; the Trapdoor Spider's silken trip-wires; and the Assassin Bug, its back adorned with dead insects, a disguise that lets it live unchallenged amongst its victims.
Episode 2 – Predator (22nd June 2013)
Nothing wants to be eaten – and so bugs that feed on other bugs have devised amazing ways to defeat the defences of their prey.
Featuring: the Whirligig Beetle that uses the water as a radar system; the uber-sophisticated Portia Spider; the Ogre-Faced Spider's portable net; and the Cockroach Wasp, which tames a cockroach so its young can eat it alive.
Episode 3 – Courtship (29th June 2013)
Life is all about making the next generation. Bugs must choose the best mate, and they have many ways to seduce a prospective partner.
Featuring: dancing Scorpions; perfume-wearing Nassonia Wasps; the Tropical Cricket which seduces the female with bribes; and the deadly embrace of the Praying Mantis.
Episode 4 – Sex (6th July 2013)
After courtship comes sex, with every male wanting to ensure that the next generation is his.
Featuring: the Harvestman Spider, which has no use for sex and reproduces solely by cloning; the tiny male Orb Spider, capable of sneaking up on a female and mating without her noticing; and the Butterfly, an eating machine as a caterpillar and a sex machine as a butterfly.
Episode 5 – Colony (13th July 2013)
Some arthropods have found a new way to prosper in the world. Instead of fighting each other, they co-operate.
Featuring: the Burrowing Cockroach, a bug that cares for her young; Social Spiders, living together in a single 30-metre web; Bumblebees, whose queen controls the hive with a chemical that renders the other bees sterile; and Green Ants, using their larvae as glue to hold their nest together.
Episode 6 – Super-Organism (20th July 2013)
The ultimate bug invention – colonies so vast that they rival human megacities in both size and complexity.
Featuring: Honey Bees, using dance as a crucial communication tool; Termites, insect city-building on an unsurpassed scale; the Leafcutter Ants that have taken up farming; and the Argentine Ant, with a colony of billions that stretches, literally, across a continent.