{"id":665922,"date":"2026-08-31T22:55:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T22:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/665922\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T22:55:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T22:55:36","slug":"bbc-chief-shares-agony-of-filming-lion-cub-who-could-have-been-killed-at-any-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/665922\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC chief shares agony of filming lion cub who could have been killed at any moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

He\u2019s the megastar director behind Disney\u2019s biggest live action hit. When Jon Favreau\u2019s The Lion King came out in 2019, it raked in a record-breaking $1.66billion dollars (\u00a31.3billion) at the box office.<\/p>\n

But it left Jon with a question. Could the movie\u2019s plot \u2013 in which exiled cub Simba grows up to take over his pride \u2013 be recreated in real life? So he got in touch with Mike Gunton, creative director of the BBC\u2019s Natural History Unit.<\/a><\/p>\n

The new documentary LION, from National Geographic, is the result of their<\/a> blockbuster collaboration. Here Mike tells Meg Jorsh all about it\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of Kio’s pride relaxing by a water hole(Image: National Geographic\/Eric Averdung)<\/p>\n

Deep into the endless summer holidays, I\u2019m about to speak to Mike Gunton by video call. I shut the attic door so the kids can\u2019t wander in \u2013 and then I start to worry. The cat.<\/p>\n

My cat, Mog, doesn\u2019t like it when any doors, anywhere are shut. It\u2019s not about whether he wants to come into the room. He just like to know that he can.<\/p>\n

So when Mike pops up in my Zoom window, the weirdness of cats is still on my mind. After all, he\u2019s just spent four years watching them for new series LION, out next week on National Geographic and Disney+.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiologically, lions are weird,\u201d he explains. \u201cWhich is why they’re so exciting. Most cats are non-social \u2013 almost all of them are solitary. Their social interactions are either with their young or when it comes to courtship.<\/p>\n

\u201cLions are more like dogs. Lions are social cats. Dogs are social carnivores, so wolf packs, dog packs, all those kinds of creatures tend to be social.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m strangely relieved to hear it. A realistic version of the Lion King \u2013 in which the animals<\/a> make friends, fall in love and mourn the loss of dead relatives \u2013 is immediately more plausible.<\/p>\n

\"LION<\/p>\n

LION crew members Joe Treddenick and\u00a0Sophie Darlington(Image: National Geographic\/Joe Treddenick)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s obviously no singing in LION, but the plot is almost eerily familiar. It follows the journey of Kio, a real cub in Kenya\u2019s Maasai Mara National Reserve, as he rises to become ruler of his pride.<\/p>\n

And with lion cub survival rates just 50%, it\u2019s the result of a nailbiting 1,000 hours of filming. \u201cPoor Jon,\u201d laughs Mike. \u201cEvery time I spoke to him, which was every week, it would always begin with \u2018Is Kio still alive?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why it was mad doing it. I think we pulled it off, but funnily enough, the further you go through with it, the worse it gets. You\u2019ve made more investment, more connection with the animal.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we thought about how we could tell it if he was killed, or died, or disappeared, but I kept on pushing that to the back of my mind and hoping it wouldn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting out as the youngest and most vulnerable of his pride, we see Kio battle to earn the respect of his brothers. He is lovingly supported by mum Summer, even as she resorts to desperate measures to survive.<\/p>\n

\"Kio's<\/p>\n

Kio’s loving mum Summer(Image: National Geographic)<\/p>\n

But when tragedy strikes, the young lions are forced to lean on each other while they learn to survive on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis idea of the dispassionate filmmaker is a load of old whatsit,\u201d admits Mike. \u201cOf course you\u2019re invested. What hopefully comes across in this film is that their lives are tough.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see the decisions they make, or somebody else makes in their family, or some event occurs which can impact their lives and you\u2019re absolutely caught up in it. You feel like they\u2019re your brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

And for Mike, that\u2019s a very important idea. He wants to tell the animals\u2019 stories in a way his audience will relate to \u2013 and what better structure to hang it on than a film millions of people have seen?<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cIt\u2019s a very tough life, being a wild animal. One of the things I\u2019ve learned in making this series is how tough it is to be a male lion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think also there\u2019s a lot to be reflected in the power of social connections, and wanting to do right by your offspring, or by your relatives. I think it\u2019s an uplifting thing to talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n

It comes at a time of change for nature documentaries, which for decades were inseparable from the soothing tones of David Attenborough. With the veteran presenter now 100 years old, filmmakers are looking for new ways to draw in the public.<\/p>\n

\"Male<\/p>\n

Male lions Olepolos, Osapuk and Orkitok(Image: National Geographic\/Simon Blakeney)<\/p>\n

Mike, who\u2019s worked with the national treasure for more than 40 years, warns they will never be able to replace him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s never going to be a new Attenborough,\u201d he says. \u201cHe is unique, and has defined so much about what it is to be a wildlife presenter, and that partly is historical, because it started when he kind of invented it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that does not mean there will not be other ways of telling stories. I\u2019ve just done a series with Tom Hanks, I\u2019ve done a series with Jon Favreau. There are other voices, other perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say the naturalist has finally retired, he adds. \u201cI\u2019d be in terrible trouble from him if I said \u2018oh yeah, David\u2019s retired.\u2019 He\u2019d be the first to say \u2018no, I haven\u2019t.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n