BBC Producer Talks About Filming TV Show Segment In Tucson

TUCSON, AZ — For BBC episode producer Chadden Hunter and his television film crew, jumping into freezing Canadian Hudson Bay waters with a polar bear swimming nearby might be all in a day’s work. So is getting up-close-and-personal footage of a Tucson roadrunner scavenging for live critters to eat underneath the broiling Arizona sun. Hunter and his crew underwent both extremes while filming the “North America” episode of BBC America’s series “Seven Worlds, One Planet,” airing Saturday. This Patch reporter caught up with Hunter, an Emmy-nominated Australian PhD, to ask what the biggest challenges were in filming the Tucson episode segment — and what he and the crew liked best about Tucson.

Why choose Tucson for this episode, versus Phoenix or other parts of Arizona with roadrunners?

Tucson is blessed with spectacular topography and protected land in all directions around the town. Roadrunners are widespread through the American Southwest, but the scenery around Tucson added something magical as a backdrop. For our international viewers, we felt the combination of the Sonoran Desert and saguaro cactus showcases one of the most iconic landscapes of North America. It’s also one of the richest and most diverse deserts in the world. I doubt many locals realize what a mecca it is for wildlife film crews. The BBC Natural History Unit have been filming in the deserts around Tucson for decades, and it’s not uncommon to bump into our friends from "National Geographic" there, too.

When was the Tucson segment filmed? How long did it take to film?

We made at least four different trips to the Tucson area totaling six weeks over two summers. There were just so many scenic spots to check out, great leads and interesting wildlife to choose from.

Where exactly in or around Tucson was this filmed?

We filmed in Saguaro [National Park] and on private ranchland to the south and west of Tucson. We stayed in Green Valley where the local retirees couldn’t have been [more] friendly and more helpful.

How long did the crew have to wait to see a roadrunner you could film?

Roadrunners are relatively common around Tucson, so we didn’t need to wait long to see them. But finding just the right bird who would tolerate our cameras getting close while it was hunting took a lot longer. We spent weeks just quietly following individual roadrunners, getting to know their personalities and letting them get used to our presence before we started getting the intimate footage you see in the "Seven Worlds, One Planet" series.

Were there any obstacles or challenges to filming the roadrunners in Tucson?

As any Tucson local knows, May and June can be brutal months to be working outdoors in the middle of the day, but it’s nothing a wildlife film crew isn’t used to. What makes the environment tricky is the cactus. The beautiful, stately saguaro keep to themselves, the noble gentleman of the cactus world. But the low-level cholla cactus are nasty; they seem to jump out and attack you if you’re not paying attention. Trying to chase a roadrunner through the cholla inevitably leads to yelps from the crew and a long pause while we carefully pulled spines out of our skin.

What did the crew like best about Tucson? What was the thing they liked least?

Tucson was one of the friendliest places we filmed in across the whole series. Everyone seemed to want to help us — from hotel staff, landowners and shopkeepers.

The toughest thing about filming in the deserts around Tucson was [again], the cholla cactus. If you walk around them carefully and mindfully, you can normally avoid their spines, but as soon as our eyes and cameras were focused on a lightning-fast roadrunner, the cholla seemed to punish us from all directions. Everyone on the crew left with cholla splinters in their skin!

Where was the crew filming before Tucson? Where did you go to film after Tucson?

Before arriving in Tucson, we were storm-chasing on the prairies of the Midwest. After filming roadrunners around Tucson, we headed north to film other scenic locations in Arizona such as Coal Mine Canyon and Monument Valley, with the generous support of the Najavo Nation.

Catch the “North America” episode of “Seven Worlds, One Planet” featuring Tucson on BBC America at 7 p.m. MST Saturday .