Duncan Bulling Production Credits
Producer/Director 1x60
Windfall Films for Nat Geo International and Nat Geo Wild
When elephants and humans clash there are deaths and injuries on both sides. In Malawi they've decided on an extreme solution. Capture the elephants, and move them to a protected game reserve 300 km away. But every step, from herding to release, is complex and limited by elephant physiology, local topography and time. Get it wrong and they’ll be left with a herd of dead elephants, get it right, the humans and elephants can look forward to a life free of fear and conflict.
Producer/Director 1x60
Windfall Films for Five, Nat Geo and Discovery Canada
How do you haul 4000 tonnes of historic Mississippi steamship 80 miles over land? Mixing actuality and cutting edge CGI, this programme reveals the pitfalls, problems and dramas of one of the most audacious moves ever attempted.
Secrets of the Dead: Dogfight Over Guadalcanal Producer/Writer, 1x60
Nat Geo, WNET and Discovery Canada
7th August 1942, Guadalcanal: In a few, frantic moments US pilot James ‘Pug’ Southerland and Japanese ace Saburo Sakai displayed levels of flying skill, courage and compassion, which would make them legends of the air. However, this classic dogfight has one enduring mystery. One of the pilots completely outfoxed and outmanoeuvred his opponent, but with the enemy dead in his sights, his guns remained silent. Just why didn’t he fire? Using the pilots own accounts, crash site forensics, and historical reconstructions, this film finally solves the mystery of the Dogfight Over Guadalcanal.
Winner, Cine Golden Eagle
Producer/Director , 3x60
Windfall Films for Channel 4
For the first time in their 180 year history, the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures were filmed primarily on location. Lloyd Peck from the British Antatctic Survey investiagtes the scientific secrets bound up in the coldest, windiest and most extreme place on Earth.
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Co-director 1x60,
Pioneer Productions for Channel 4
On Feb 1st 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintigrated as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere. None of seven crew survived, but was this an accident waiting to happen? Was the fate of the crew sealed before the Shuttle left the drawing board? Did design compromises make the craft inherently dangerous? Could NASA have avoided the disaster if they'd listened to a report that they'd comissioned over a decade earlier?
PD 1x60, Windfall Films for Five and Discovery
Recalling an Ealing Comedy, four determined steam railway enthusiasts head off to deepest, darkest Turkey in a quest to save the objects of their desires - two seventy-year-old steam locos. Neither engine has moved more than a hundred yards in the last 30 years, but the team has to haul them 850 miles along Turkey’s rust riddled railtracks, and to compound matters none of them speaks a word of the Turkish. Farce meets road trip, or rather rail trip, on an epic journey littered with fires, fatigue, mechanical failure and some very bad dancing. Can their passion overcome every adversity? As the Turks would say,
“"Insha’allah”"
Produced, Directed and Filmed,
1x60 Clearstory for Channel 4
Made for Channel 4’s acclaimed documentary thread, True Stories, obs doc, archive and personal testimony chronicle the demise of a once powerful working class tribe - the Thames Watermen and Lightermen. For over 450 years, river dynasties have apprenticed sons into their trade - transporting cargo and people along London’s iconic river. Focusing on three of these families, this film reveals a little seen world of ancient ceremony, Royal connections and cherished traditions, including the oldest rowing race in the world - the Doggett’s Coat and Badge. But, these are families battling the odds to keep their centuries old traditions and way of life alive.
Produced, Directed and Filmed, 2x60
Wildfire TV for Channel 5
With access to the largest women only prison in Europe, Inside Holloway uses drama recon, expert interview and contemporary archive to reveal the surprising and gruesome history of this infamous institution. Since its inception, Holloway has been at the heart of some of the most momentous in our nation’s history. Their forced feeding of the Suffragettes radicalised the movement into making ever more desperate and public forms of demonstration. The prison’s hanging of Ruth Ellis launched such a backlash of moral outrage that capital punishment was abolished. Holloway has locked-up spies, witches, activists, and it's most notorious prisoner, Myra Hindley - who as Inside Holloway reveals, planned an outlandish escape with her lover - a female prison officer.
Produced, Directed and Filmed,
1x60Windfall Films for Discovery
The most powerful and destructive entities in the Universe, Black Holes challenge our very understanding of how the Cosmos works. But using pioneering science and cutting edge CGI, we reveal a hidden world of contradictions and surprises. How can black holes be the darkest places in the Cosmos, yet generate the brightest lights we have ever seen? How can they swallow a whole star in seconds, yet be vital for the formation of galaxies? Strip The Cosmos separates science fact from science fiction, uncovering the remarkable truth about the weirdest and most misunderstood objects in the entire Universe.
Inside Buckingham Palace
Series Produced, Directed and Filmed,
2x 60 Wildfire Television for Channel 5
It is one of the most iconic buildings in the world. A symbol of pageantry, privilege and power, but Buckingham Palace is a place of secrecy and intrigue. Now, using first-hand accounts, personal experience and previously unseen documents, we reveal what really happens behind its closed doors. We explore the scandals, affairs, and unique events that have shaped the institution's history, and ask what is the future for the Buckingham Palace in the 21st century.
Producer/Director 1x90
Renegade for Channel 4
What does cannabis really do to the brain? Is modern street cannabis the same drug that fuelled the peace and free lovin' of the 60s, or has it changed into a much harder narcotic? Is the current war on drugs really working, or should we embrace legalisation?Mixing a pioneering scientific trial, with intimate personal stories and expert opinion, Drugs Live sifts through the evidence, and reveals the surprising truth about cannabis.
Winner, Association of International Broadcasting Award
Producer/Director,1x120
Impossible Factual for Nat Geo
In the channel's biggest special of the year, a team of scientist dissect a full size, anatomically correct T. rex cadaver and uncover the secrets of the king of the dinosaurs.Cutting through mountains of viscera they'll investigate what this fearsome beast ate, how it hunted, where it lived and its place in the evolutionary tree of life.
Producer/Director, 1x60
Dragonfly for Nat Geo
What does it feel like to die? Our only clues come from those who've been to the brink and returned.Their bizarre tales of floating out of their bodies, travelling down a tunnel towards a bright light, and seeing dead relatives seem to defy our understanding of science, but neurologist Steven Laureys believes these sensations are not only real, but can be explained by the human brain.To prove it, he's putting his own body and mind on the line. He'll spin at 7G in a centrifuge, take magic mushrooms and endure being locked inside a sensory deprivation chamber as he tries to unlock the secrets of these Near Death Experiences.
Producer/Director 1x90
Brook Lapping for BBC
In his last TV appearance, scientist, thinker and icon, Stephen Hawking sets out his startling vision of humanity's future - leave the Earth, or face extinction. With the help of engineer, Danielle George and science author, Christophe Galfard, we investigate the big questions. Where should we go? How could we get there? And what would we need to build a new civilisation from scratch?
Produced, Directed and Filmed, 1x60
Windfall Films For Discovery Networks
Meet the scientists who are trying to fully understand Black Holes - what they are, how they work and their role in the cosmos. Their discoveries may mean we have to radically rethink our very understanding of space and time. But their pioneering work could lead to benefits for all of humanity.
Producer/Director 1x60, Lion for PBS
Over 3 million people call the city of Naples home, but their lives are constantly under threat from not one, but two active volcanoes. On one side looms Vesuvius, infamous for the destruction of the entire Roman city of Pompeii. But on the other side lurks an even bigger danger - Campi Flegrei, a volcano so large that hundreds of thousands of people actually live inside its crater. We join the scientists trying to protect this city from volcanic disaster. Can they devise better early warning systems? Can they find clues in past volcanic tragedies to help predict how a modern day eruption could threaten lives? Can they find ways to stop Naples from becoming the Next Pompeii?
Winner Gold Medal, AAAS-Kavli Science Journalism Awards
Producer/Director 1x60, Naked for History
On 9/11, one hijacked plane doesn't reach its target. United 93 crashes in rural Pennsylvania. Combining first person testimony from air traffic controllers and those who spoke to loved ones on board the flight itself, with previously classified streams of evidence, we build a minute by minute breakdown of Flight 93's fateful journey.
Brand new forensic analysis uncovers how the hijackers take over. Secret service documents, seating plans and phone calls shed new light on the passengers’ plan to fight back. While a top secret audio recording reveals what really happens in Flight 93’s final moments.
Showrunner/Director, 1x120 for History
Bruce Lee's death in 1973 is shrouded in mystery, confusion and rumour. Now, Bruce’s brother Robert wants closure. He still doesn’t understand why his seemingly fit, healthy, big brother died suddenly at the age of just 32. He has enlisted friend and ex-detective Philip Chan to look for answers. With access to witness statements, the official autopsy, and those who knew Bruce well, Philip explores and eliminates popular theories about the martial artist’s passing, as he tries the solve the mystery of the Death of Bruce Lee.
Produced, Directed and Filmed for PBS NOVA, ARTE, NHK (1x60)
January 15th 2022, the volcano Hunga Tonga – Hunga Ha’apai erupts with the power of over 60 million tons of TNT. It is the most powerful explosion ever recorded on the planet. Within minutes, waves as high as a six storey building, devastate the Pacific nation of Tonga, leaving a country in tatters, and scientists around the world struggling to understand the enormity of what had happened. Now, we join a team of investigators as they try to solve the mysteries of Hunga Tonga – Hunga Ha’apai.
Director, 1x60,
Windfall Films for BBC, Smithsonian, NHK
Securing exclusive access and filming the early scenes of one of the great scientific missions of our age. Filmed across two years, this film follow a team of astronomers attempting the seemingly impossible – taking the first ever picture of a Black Hole.
Winner Silver Medal, AAAS-Kavli Science Journalism Awards
Producer/Director for PBS, France 5, SVT, ZDF
and CBC (1x60)
Mosul – a city scarred by occupation. For three years, Daesh, the feared Islamic state, terrorised the city’s people and destroyed priceless archaeological relics. But, could salvation lie in Mosul’s past? Nearly 3,000 years ago it was the biggest and most powerful city on the planet – Nineveh, the capital of one of humanity’s most enigmatic civilisations – the Assyrians. Now, archaeologists are unearthing new discoveries which could solve the riddles of the Assyrians, and restore the city’s pride.
Producer/ Director 1x90 for ARTE & BBC Storyville, 1x60 for PBS NOVA
Venice is under attack from climate change. The sea level is rising rapidly. Flooding is becoming more frequent, and more extreme. With each inundation of seawater, more salt impregnates the buildings, and as it crystalises, it rips the bricks, mortar and stone to shreds. The city is crumbling.
But can scientists and engineers find ways to protect this jewel of arhitecture, beauty and culture?
Winner Gold Award, New York Festivals 2023