Keith Scholey, born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is a renowned British producer of nature documentaries for television and cinema, and a former television executive. He is the director and producer of the feature film 'African Cats' for Disneynature, in partnership with Alastair Fothergill, and executive producer of the series 'North America' for the Discovery Channel.
Scholey graduated from Bristol University with a degree in Zoology in 1978 and later completed a PhD in Zoology at the same university. He began his career as a researcher at the BBC Natural History Unit in 1983, working on David Attenborough's series 'The Living Planet'. He rose through the ranks to become a producer, creating programs for 'The Natural World' and 'Wildlife on One' series, as well as David Attenborough's award-winning series 'The Private Life of Plants'.
Scholey also created and produced the original series of 'Big Cat Diary', which has continued for over a decade, and series produced the 'Wildlife Specials' and became the series editor of 'Wildlife on One'. In 1998, he became the Head of the Natural History Unit, overseeing the creation of memorable series such as 'State of the Planet', 'The Life of Mammals', 'Blue Planet', 'Andes to Amazon', and 'Wild Africa', as well as reinventing the department's live broadcasting with 'The Abyss -Live' and "Springwatch'.
In 2002, Scholey became the Controller of Specialist Factual for the BBC's Factual and Learning division, overseeing programs ranging from landmark series such as 'Auschwitz', 'Planet Earth', 'Egypt', 'Supervolcano', and 'The Power of Art' to classic long-running series like Horizon, Timewatch, Natural World, and Arena, as well as live events including the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
In 2006, Scholey became the Controller of Factual Production for BBC Vision, responsible for all BBC Factual in-house production. During this time, he oversaw the creation of 'The One Show', the biggest factual commission in the organization's history, and was the Deputy Chief Creative Officer for BBC Vision Productions, with responsibilities across all in-house TV production. In 2008, he resigned from the BBC to pursue a career as an independent film director and television producer.
In recent years, Scholey has directed and produced the feature film 'African Cats' for Disneynature, which is due to be released in the USA on Earth Day, 22 April 2011, and is also the executive producer on the landmark Discovery Channel series 'North America', through his company Wild Horizons Ltd.
Scholey was made a Doctor of Science (DSc) in 2001, by the University of Bristol for his contribution to the public and biological sciences. He is a trustee of Wildscreen, a qualified SCUBA diver, and a pilot.
