Michael Poole is an Executive Producer with a long-standing relationship with the BBC Natural History Unit. He is one of the BBC’s most experienced talents and his career spans arts, history, sports and contemporary documentary programming. He is a former Editor of The Late Show, the BBC’s cultural magazine show, and also The Big Read, a series widely regarded as having changed Britain’s reading habits. His multi-award winning work for the BBC includes The Cultured Ape and Darwin’s Struggle.
Michael also created long-running archive strand Timeshift, and his other credits include British Style Genius and Empire of Cricket. His output for the NHU includes Beauty and the Beasts: The Story of Jane Goodall, about her pioneering study of chimpanzees since 1960, and the award-winning, Ape Hunters. You can watch a clip of this fascinating programme on our BBC Earth website, which focuses on the hunters and consumers of primates and their threatened extinction in the Congo basin. He is also responsible for programmes including Primate Primers, When Britain Went Wild and Apes in Hollywood.