BBC Accused Of “Airbrushing” Amateur Fossil Finder Out Of David Attenborough ‘Sea Monster’ Doc As Naming Petition Passes 2,000 Signatures

Jesse Whittock
·3-min read

The BBC has come under fire from the scientific community after a David Attenborough documentary about a recently discovered underwater creature only briefly mentioned the fossil finder who found it.

More than 2,000 signatures have been recorded on a change.org petition to have the pliosaur named after Philip Jacobs, who was named only as a “fossil enthusiast” towards the end of Attenborough and the Great Sea Monster.

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“This particular find is being quoted as being one of the most significant fossils to have ever been found,” wrote Anna Morell, who began the petition. “It is unique. It is huge. It is significant. And yet Philip’s name is being effectively airbrushed from the historical record when it comes to this important find. Much of the global promotional media fails to mention him.”

Jacobs posted on Facebook following the program, writing: “I’ve been completely airbrushed out of my own discovery, not even a mention. I have no words.”

The amateur fossil finder spotted the snout of pliosaur, which is thought to be around 150 million-years-old while on a beach walk in Dorset, UK, in April 2022. The rest of a two-meter skull was then excavated, with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit reacting quickly to the news to film the dig.

The film, documenting the “discovery of a lifetime,” went out on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on New Years Day (January 1) and was met with widespread acclaim.

Several figures from the palaeontology, including TV presenter Dean Lomax, criticized the BBC over Jacobs’ omission. “Philip Jacobs deserves a huge amount of credit, not only for making the discovery but for ensuring that it was saved for science. It is a real oversight for [the BBC] not to – at the very least – have name-checked Philip,” said Lomax in a statement carried by UK newspapers.

A BBC statement claimed Jacobs and Natural History Unit producers had seen eye to eye prior to the launch. “The production team worked with Philip Jacobs to include his discovery film in the documentary and he was credited at the end,” it read. “This programme predominantly concerned the excavation, preparation, and scientific analysis of the complete pliosaur skull.”

In pre-screening promotional materials, natural history icon Attenborough had said: “This film is about the discovery of the skull of an extraordinary monster of the seas – one of the biggest predators the world has ever seen. The skull is the most important part of an animal, and what you can deduce from the skull is absolutely fascinating.”

Attenborough had become aware of the find through a collector friend who lived close by to the discovery, and informed BBC Studios Natural History Unit executive producer Mike Gunton, who quickly sold the project to the network and gathered a filming crew together.

In a follow up post yesterday, Jacobs said The Etches Collection, the independent museum organization that worked with the BBC on the film, was “doing everything in their power to see that there is full attribution as to who first discovered the giant pliosaur.”

The specimen has gone on display at The Etches Museum in Dorset and has attracted record visitor numbers.

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