Peter Crawford delivers talk and film screening to students

On Wednesday 16th January, Peter Crawford (BSc Zoology) gave a personal insight into his particular world of film and television and highlighted some of the turning points in his own professional path.

After the presentation, Peter discussed the way that the world of broadcasting and media has changed since he joined it – and the challenges faced by the new generation of creative communicators.

The students were also treated to a very special 50^th anniversary screening of The Reject, the 45 minute black-and-white dramatised 16mm film which Peter made while a student at the University of Exeter.

Made in 1963 on a shoe-string budget awarded by the Guild, ‘The Reject’ was screened in colleges up and down Britain – and won the Amateur Ten Best Film competition at London’s Festival Theatre.

Student Katherine Bradshaw, “I found the talk fascinating, it was so interesting to see the movie Peter made whilst he was at Exeter and to see what things had changed since then, both at the University and within film technology, and what things are still the same. It's very comforting to know that someone went from making amateur films at our Uni to having a wide, varied and exciting career within broadcasting. Peter Crawford was well spoken and funny; an incredibly inspiring afternoon.”

After completing his BSc in Zoology in 1964, Peter Crawford went on to create a long list of iconic and award-winning programmes for the BBC natural History Unit, such as The Living Isles, Great Natural Wonders of the World and Moonpower, just to name a few.