So, what happens when an OU volcanologist is invited out to India to join the filming of a major new BBC series? Find out...
Dr Mike Widdowson, volcanologist at the OU’s Department of Environment, Earth and Ecosystems, joined the filming of BBC TWO series The Story of the Continents in October, which will be aired on domestic UK TV in March-April next year (2013).
Mike’s no stranger to the camera as in 2010, he fronted-up an episode of the Canadian TV series ‘The odyssey of the continents’ which was filmed on location in India, and in the OU’s world-class rock-dating laboratories.
'It was really good to catch up with Iain again'
He said: “This latest filming trip was a bit of a whirlwind excursion lasting only five days. Together with the assistant cameraman Claudio Cadman, I arrived in Mumbai late on the Sunday evening. The remainder of the team, including assistant producers, sound and camera crew had already been out filming in and around the city. By Wednesday evening we had completed everything, and we all flew back home on the Thursday.”
Iain Stewart is well known to many who watch the BBC Earth Science programmes – he has presented TV programmes such as Making Scotland’s Landscape, Men of Rock, and How to Grow a Planet, as well as Volcano Live.
Mike said: “It was really good to catch up with Iain again – we had met in Glasgow on a number of occasions a few years back over beers and a curry – at the time I was jointly supervising a PhD student at Glasgow University.”
Mike and Iain were in India to shoot a piece about the Deccan flood basalt eruptions which is based on Mike’s research there.
“I've been researching the ancient volcanic landscape of western India for over 25 years now, and we have made many key findings through my detailed fieldwork, and the efforts of my PhD students, as well as through our analytical work at The Open University,” he added.
'Massive eruptions, toxic gases, and the struggle of life'
“We’ve unearthed a fascinating story of massive eruptions, toxic gases, and the struggle of life at ‘Deccan ground zero’. What we have discovered is that the effect of these eruptions are likely to have been a major contributory factor to the mass extinction event 65 million years ago - most famous for the demise of the dinosaurs. We aimed to get this idea across in this BBC TV episode – we argue that a combination of Deccan volcanism and a meteorite impact in Mexico was the 'double blow' that killed off many species on the lands and in the oceans at the end-Cretaceous.”
The programme will form part of the Australaisa episode of a five-part BBC series. Iain has done 'the talk to camera narrative' based on Mike’s work on the Deccan – “And very good he is, too!” said Mike. At the same time, Mike was filmed 'interview style', and his footage will be used for a parallel series which will go out to BBC worldwide.
'Rat-catchers of Mumbai'
Mike added: “We had four very hectic days filming – it has been hard work with umpteen takes for the various pieces, but always good fun throughout. In fact, we arrived at one locality – the ancient Bhuddist caves of Karla and Bhaja which were cut by hand 2,000 years ago into the Deccan rock - only to find there was a major religious Hindu festival taking place. It was amazingly colourful, with offerings of food being burned on a huge pyre. We filmed in among all the smoke and crowds!”.
The final days of filming were in Mumbai, after which Iain and the crew took a midnight jaunt to film the rat-catchers of Mumbai – but to find out why, you’ll have to watch the TV programme next spring!
Pictured is Dr Mike Widdowson with cameraman Claudio Cadman.
