BEARWALKER: BBC TO RELL THE LIFE STORY OF WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST LYNN ROGERS

Bearwalker tells the emotional life story of wildlife biologist Lynn Rogers, who has lived closer to wild black bears than anyone ever before. This film follows his daughter, Colleen, as she returns home to the iconic Northwoods of Minnesota to help her aging father save his remarkable legacy.

Many in America have a paralysing fear of bears, yet, as a child, Colleen was raised among wild bears, never questioning her father’s unconventional bond with these animals. Now, a frail father and loving daughter face denial, heartache, and the looming threat of hunters while Lynn strives to see his favourite bear, ‘Lily,’ one last time.

Set against the raw beauty of the American wilderness and brought to life with rare, unseen archive footage, Bearwalker charts the fifty-year journey of a controversial scientific pioneer, revealing how challenging and overcoming fear can create a new relationship with the wild.

Peter Lown, Director, says: “Lynn Rogers questioned his fear of bears, asking, ‘Where is the evidence?’ - beginning a completely new way of thinking about bears. Walking with them, sleeping near them, he changed the way I saw the wild forever. This is a film about ‘fear’ and the beauty we discover when we confront it.”

Bearwatcher, a 1x75’, is made by Oak Island Films and Merit Motion Pictures production in association with Passion Planet and Wish Tree Films. It was commissioned by Jack Bootle, Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual. The Executive Producers are Merit Jensen Carr and David Allen, the Producer is Ted Oakes, and the Director is Peter Lowns. The Commissioning Editor is Tom Watt-Smith.