Lauren Heath-Jones | Planet Attractions | 04 Mar 2022
Stephen Fry is the face of Fantastic Beasts: A Natural History, a new BBC documentary exploring the real-life inspiration behind the wondrous creatures featured in the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
The documentary is the result of a partnership between Warner Bros, the BBC and London’s Natural History Museum (NHM), which also saw the development of the Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature exhibition, which ended earlier this year.
Much like the exhibition, the documentary examines the origins of mythical creatures and their history and connection to animals still roaming the planet today and combines the magic of the Wizarding World with real-life fantastic beasts, both in nature and exhibited at the museum.
It was produced by BBC Studios Natural History and features many of the museum’s animal specimens as well as an interview with author and Fantastic Beasts creator J.K. Rowling filmed on location in the NHM’s Earth Sciences Library.
“We all need to remind ourselves of the astonishing achievements that evolution can make over huge amounts of time,” said Fry, commentining on the documentary.
“Following its simple rules, just as water follows gravity, it makes and remakes, shaping and reshaping living organisms to perfect them for tasks in ways that still astonish us.
“I think the stories of mythical beasts are so compelling because of their mixture of fear, dread, excitement and comfort.
“This range of countervailing emotions are ones that mythology, story-telling, fairytales and more have always comforted and alarmed us with. We have sat in the caves, and now around our books and screens, glad to be safe, but needing to know about the dangers and the wonders out there in the wider world.”
Fantastic Beasts: A Natural History is available to watch on BBC iPlayer
Stephen Fry is the face of Fantastic Beasts: A Natural History, a new BBC documentary exploring the real-life inspiration behind the wondrous creatures featured in the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
The documentary is the result of a partnership between Warner Bros, the BBC and London’s Natural History Museum (NHM), which also saw the development of the Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature exhibition, which ended earlier this year.
Much like the exhibition, the documentary examines the origins of mythical creatures and their history and connection to animals still roaming the planet today and combines the magic of the Wizarding World with real-life fantastic beasts, both in nature and exhibited at the museum.
It was produced by BBC Studios Natural History and features many of the museum’s animal specimens as well as an interview with author and Fantastic Beasts creator J.K. Rowling filmed on location in the NHM’s Earth Sciences Library.
“We all need to remind ourselves of the astonishing achievements that evolution can make over huge amounts of time,” said Fry, commentining on the documentary.
“Following its simple rules, just as water follows gravity, it makes and remakes, shaping and reshaping living organisms to perfect them for tasks in ways that still astonish us.
“I think the stories of mythical beasts are so compelling because of their mixture of fear, dread, excitement and comfort.
“This range of countervailing emotions are ones that mythology, story-telling, fairytales and more have always comforted and alarmed us with. We have sat in the caves, and now around our books and screens, glad to be safe, but needing to know about the dangers and the wonders out there in the wider world.”
Fantastic Beasts: A Natural History is available to watch on BBC iPlayer
