London:

Many thank to former Met Office boss Lord Julian Hunt for his time at the House of Lords last week. (Check out his CV here.) Some very valuable suggestions made and introductions done on our behalf. Then it was off to Big Wave TV to be filmed for a promotional film short to be sent to the BBC: a proposed six-part series about the rebuild and voyage is going through the BBC commissioning process. Being a wildlife film-maker must be one of the great dreams of many science graduates, and these people were good, they've produced films for BBC's Natural World strand. I saw their showreel: their film of leafcutter ants getting stuck in rain drops, held there by surface tension was atonishing. Having met them and seen their professionalism first hand (they're also really likeable) I'm confident that they'll make a great about the Beagle rebuild and voyage.