The Living River

(BP/BBC Web of Life series)

Filmed mainly on the River Test, in the Whitchurch area, and on the River Bourne, The Living River features a wide variety of river life, birds and plants. The film shows how the seasons, the weather and the flora and fauna in this part of Hampshire are all integrated and woven together into a ‘web of life’. The film focuses on the migration of eels from the land into the river, on water rodents and on riverside vegetation. In considering the diverse animal life in the river, the film shows how the river serves as a source of food for these animals and also reveals how man can alter this situation through pollution.

The Living River was the first of a series of seven films sponsored by BP under the title Web of Life, each of which examined the ecology of a different habitat. All of the films were shown on the BBC in 1973 with the single exception of The Living Woodland. The Web of Life series comprised the following titles (the date shown is that of first broadcast on BBC Two):

• The Living River, 4th January 1973
• The Living Savanna, 11th January 1973
• The Living Mountains, 18th January 1973
• The Living Rain Forest, 25th January 1973
• The Living Tundra, 1st February 1973
• The Living Lakes, 8th February 1973
• The Living Woodland

Please note that the original soundtrack of The Living River is available on the CD Carey Blyton: Film & Television Music (3/4), which may be purchased from this site.

Sections of the film presented here have had judicious image stabilisation applied to them, as the video retrieved from VHS cassette was extremely unstable and somewhat nauseating to watch. The stabilisation process accounts for occasional minor artefacts at the top and bottom of the picture.