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Fergus Michael Edmund Beeley (born 1962) is an English wildlife conservationist, filmmaker and Internet meme following a viral video. He is best known for his work producing films for BBC Natural World, including White Falcon, White Wolf, The Eagle Has Landed, Return of the Eagle Owl, and Spectacled Bears: Shadows of the Forest. He joined the BBC Natural History Unit in 1990 and has produced series including Planet Earth: The Future and The Life of Birds in collaboration with David Attenborough.

In July 2017, Beely received nationwide attention after a hysterical video of him making death threats and verbally abusing a young family in a road rage incident at a Sainsbury's supermarket near the M27 motorway in Hampshire went viral online. The video was widely mocked on Twitter and ended up featuring on the comedy video highlight series, The Last Leg.

Early life

Beeley was born in Tonbridge, Kent. In 1982, he graduated from the University of Durham (Hatfield College) with a degree in anthropology, earning a 2:2. He completed his thesis with the Pitjantjatjara tribe of Aboriginals in central Australia.

Career

Beeley joined the BBC Natural History Unit in 1990 and has produced natural history programmes for television. These include the documentary series Planet Earth: The Future, The Life of Birds and PBS Nature: "Jungle Eagle".

A month before Beeley was due to depart to Ellesmere Island for filming of the documentary "White Falcon, White Wolf", he fell whilst filming high up in the Andes and was flown back to the UK by air ambulance for surgery on a broken ankle. This meant he could not be on location with the crew for filming and had to assist via GPS and edit from his hospital bed.

In 2009, Beeley spent a year in the rural Scottish Highlands on Beinn Eighe and neighbouring Loch Maree, filming the documentary "A Highland Haven".

Conservation

Beeley is the creator of a community conservation project called the BLUE Campaign, which encourages anyone with access to a green space to give a piece back to nature to promote biodiversity.

He was executive director of a company called Fountain Digital Labs, which developed a children's wildlife entertainment app called Virry, which won a Webby Award in 2015 and a BAFTA for best interactive children's original app.

Road rage incident in July 2017

In July 2017, it was reported by the BBC that Beeley had been "filmed screaming at a family that he wants them "dead" in an apparent act of road rage." The video was circulated heavily online, and Beely became the subject of ridicule after placing a young family under an illegitimate citizen's arrest.

References

1. "Search Results for Britain records | findmypast.co.uk". www.findmypast.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
2. "Search Results for Britain records | findmypast.co.uk". www.findmypast.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
3. "Durham University gazette, 1984/85". reed.dur.ac.uk. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
4. Travel, Steppes. "Fergus Beeley". www.steppestravel.com.
5. PBS, Irene. "Filmmaker Interviews". www.pbs.org.
6. McNeill, Jim (24 August 2007). "Arctic diary: Tracking wolves". www.bbc.co.uk.
7. Wollaston, Sam (4 December 2009). "Natural World: Highland Haven and Wonderland". www.theguardian.com.
8. Heritage, Scottish Natural. "When Fergus Met Beinn" (PDF). www.snh.org.uk.
9. Beeley, Fergus (23 April 2008). "Highland Diary: Remote munro". www.bbc.co.uk.
10. Sims, Aaron (20 October 2016). "Chipping Sodbury to pilot national biodiversity campaign encouraging people to help nature by 'doing less'". www.gazetteseries.co.uk.
11. Awards, BAFTA. "Children's Interactive: Original in 2015". www.awards.bafta.org.
12. BBC News https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-40703391
13. "Ex-BBC man Fergus Beeley issues 'I want you dead' threat". BBC News. 2017-07-24. Retrieved 2021-03-24.

External links

• Fergus Beeley at IMDb
• Entry at bfi.org.uk

• Living people
• 1962 births
• Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham
• English television producers