Pioneer Productions

Last updated

Pioneer Productions
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Television
Genre Entertainment
Science
History
Drama
Founded1988;37 years ago (1988)
Founders Nigel Henbest
Heather Couper
Headquarters,
United Kingdom
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Stuart Carter, Jeremy Dear, Kirstie McLure,
Parent Tinopolis
Website pioneertv.com

Pioneer Productions is a British television production company based in London, United Kingdom, specialising in scientific and other documentary productions. [1]

Contents

History

Founded in 1988, by Nigel Henbest, Heather Couper, and Stuart Carter, [2] Pioneer targeted science broadcasting in a period of global tele-media expansion and sought relationships with US factual television broadcasters.

In the 1990s it produced series entitled Raging Planet [3] and Extreme Machines . Later CGI films included Journey to the Edge of the Universe , The Unsinkable Titanic , Hindenburg: The Last Flight  [ de ], Extraordinary Animals , In the Womb , and Catastrophe . In 2009, it helped produce the six-part series Christianity: A History for Channel 4.

Awards

Pioneer has won the "Best Science Film" award twice at the Banff World Media Festival,[ citation needed ] the Grand Award at the New York Television Festival, a UK Indie award, Sony Award, CINE Golden Eagles, and other prizes in the U.S., France, Italy, and Greece. Recently, Pioneer Productions has won an Emmy Award and awards at the Royal Television Society.[ citation needed ]

Content Produced by Pioneer Productions

Show [4] FormatProduced for
Mother Undercover (2023)TV miniseries Hulu
Gold: A Journey with Idris Elba (2023)Movie World Gold Council
The Windsor Castle Fire (2023)Movie Channel 4
Animals Like Us (Unknown)TV miniseries Love Nature

Sky Nature

Rob Cell's Engineering Reborn (2022-2023)TV minieries 5Select
In the Womb: Animal Babies (2022)TV miniseries National Geographic Wild
Secrets of the Royal Gardens (2022)TV miniseries More4
V-Day (2020)Movie Smithsonian Channel
Ocean Autopsy (2020)Movie BBC Four
#Trump: How Social Media Changed the Presidency (2020)MoviePassion Distribution

AMC/Sundance

What Happens to Your Body When You Climb? (2020)Short filmRed Bull
Chasing the Equinox (2020)Movie National Geographic
Secrets of the Superfactories (2019-2023)TV seriesMore4
One Hour that Changed the World: Moon Landing (2019)MovieEden

Passion Distribution

Superstructures: Engineering Marvels (2019)TV miniseriesNational Geographic
Animals After Dark (2019)Channel 5
Planes Gone Viral (2018)Passion
Charlie Head Standing up for the Amazon (2018)TV episodeRed Bull
The Great American Eclipse (2017)Movie Science Channel
Secrets of Christ's Tomb (2017)National Geographic
Cradle to Grave (2017)
Voyage of the Finnmen (2016)Red Bull
Open Space Namibia (2016)
Treasures of the Earth (2016)TV miniseries PBS
David Baddiel on the Silk Road (2016)TV miniseries Discovery Channel
Your Face Says It All (2016)Channel 4
Bloody Queens: Elizabeth and Mary (2016)Movie BBC Two
Mail Order Murder (2014-2015)TV miniseries Investigation Discovery
The Next Mega Tsunami (2014)MovieNational Geographic
How Sex Works (2013) BBC Three
Strangest Weather on Earth (2013-2015)TV series The Weather Channel
Disasters at Sea: Why Ships Sink (2012)Movie /

TV Episode*

Channel 4

* NOVA

Storm City 3D (2012)TV miniseries Sky
How Drugs Work (2011)BBC Three
The Year The Earth Went Wild (2011)MovieChannel 4
Witness: Disaster (Unknown)National Geographic
UFO UK: New Evidence (2011)
Curiosity Egypt: What Lies Beneath with Brendan Fraser (2011)TV episodeDiscovery Channel
How Will The World End with Samuel L. Jackson (2011)
What's Beneath America with Martin Sheen (2011)
Why is Sex Fun with Maggie Gyllenhaal (2011)
Japan Tsunami: How It Happened (2011)MovieChannel 4
The Year Britain Froze (2011)
Birth of Britain (2010)TV miniseries
Mad and Bad: 60 Years of Science on TV (2010)MovieBBC Four
The Volcano that Stopped the World (Unknown)Channel 4
How The Universe Works (2010— )TV seriesDiscovery Channel

Science Channel

Oklahoma's Deadliest Tornadoes (2013)TV episodeNOVA
Buried Alive: Chile Mine Rescue (2010)MovieChannel 4
The Bible: A History (2010)TV miniseries
Christianity: A History (2009)
The DaVinci Shroud (2009)Movie
The Unsinkable Titanic (2008)Channel 4

National Geographic Discovery Canada FremantleMedia

Journey to the Edge of the Universe (2008)National Geographic
Catastrophe (2008)TV miniseriesChannel 4

Discovery Channel

Hindenburg (2007)MovieChannel 4

Smithsonian Channel ZDF

Floods - The Year Britain Went Under (2007)Channel 4
Inside the Living Body (2007)National Geographic
Britain's Worst Weather (2007)TV miniseriesChannel 4
How The Earth Was Made (2007*, 2009-2010**)*Movie;

**TV series

History Channel
Challenger: Countdown to Disaster (2006)MovieChannel 4
Extraordinary Animals in the Womb (2005-2010)TV seriesChannel 4

Granada International National Geographic

Krakatoa (2005)Channel 4
Naked Science (2004-2011)National Geographic
Raging Planet (1997, 2009)Discovery Channel (US)

Channel 4 (UK)

References

  1. "About us - Pioneer Productions". pioneertv.com. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  2. Elmes, John. "Thomas Viner exits Pioneer". Broadcast. Archived from the original on 4 March 2025. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  3. "What we do". Pioneer Productions. Archived from the original on 17 September 2011.
  4. "Programmes - Pioneer Productions". pioneertv.com. Retrieved 21 February 2025.


  1. Naked Science. "We've just launched our brand new channel '𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲'!". YouTube. Retrieved 17 June 2025.