Wild Coasts with Craig Potton follows celebrated landscape photographer and conservationist Craig Potton, as he explores New Zealand’s extraordinarily rich and varied coastline.

The five-part Wild Coasts series will take viewers from spectacular places known the world over to isolated unknown wilderness spots.  “Our coasts are outrageously beautiful and have such a variety of scenery and habitat and wild creatures, I’m sure viewers will be blown away by the beauty of the series and amazed at some of the underwater filming in the marine reserves,” says Craig.

Throughout Wild Coasts, Craig spends time with people who live by and love New Zealand’s coasts, including scientists, sailors, swimmers, artists, iwi, boaties and bach owners.  Craig examines the amazing biodiversity of our coastal world and investigates the threats to habitats; and the impressive efforts of New Zealanders to protect our coast and its natural treasures.

He leapt at the chance to be involved with Wild Coasts, following the success of Rivers with Craig Potton. “It didn’t take too much convincing to do another television series.  Firstly, I had, and still get, a huge amount of positive comment on Rivers and secondly, I’ve always been fascinated with making moving images work as well as my still photography.  I used to make Super 8 movies when I was an adolescent so, in a sense, the desire to work with a moving image has always been in me.”

What sets this series apart?  “Compared with many other shows, we have the liberty of hour-long rather than half-hour programmes, so I can stay longer with stories and hopefully get a little more depth and information across.  Perhaps it’s also different because it’s seen through a presenter who is an active photographer and conservationist so it strongly carries the values associated with both.”

Each programme will feature the photographs Craig takes during his travels, providing the series with a collection of stunning stills. The series is shot in HD, with spectacular camera work and helicopter aerials making for a dramatic and beautiful series.

“There were some magnificent moments,” says Craig. “I was taking photos on the shore platform on Chalky Island in Fiordland in the evening light with my old friend Richard Hayes.  We have both looked down at this magnificent, sculptural place over the years while helicoptering past, and here we were, finally standing there.  It is one of the most wild and beautiful and distant coasts of New Zealand.”