It’s the movie which scared everyone out of the water and which made the directing career of Steven Spielberg. It broke box office records and went on to win three Oscars. But it nearly didn’t get made at all and was beset by problems during production. So, how did one of the greatest movies of the seventies overcome the obstacles to take its place in the movie hall of fame?

London-based, British voiceover artist Mike Cooper is the narrator for Bio’s “Jaws: The Inside Story”, which premieres in its UK version this weekend. The two-hour documentary features interviews with the stars and with Spielberg himself, giving diehard fans and newcomers alike a unique insight into the production.

The programme is a reversion for Bio’s UK audience, and is just one of a host of documentaries narrated by Mike Cooper for Bio, History, Military History, National Geographic and other channels. If you would like to talk about using Mike for your own project, please contact him for details. Based in London, Mike narrates regularly for clients around the world, either recording and editing in his own studio, or working live via ISDN or Source-Connect direct to your own facility. Phone and Skype patch are also available for you to listen in if required.

“Jaws: The Inside Story” premieres on Sunday 25th July at 9pm on Bio (formerly The Biography Channel). Bio is on Sky 529 & 530(+1), Sky HD 545, Virgin 234 & 235(+1)

Welcome to my redesigned homepage – the culmination of several months of work and tweaking with my new web designer, who’s gone well beyond the call of duty to make it work.

I asked for “evolution, not revolution” and wanted to preserve the things I liked most about the old site, while giving it a facelift and bringing it up-to-date. In particular, I wanted to:

• reduce the amount of text on the front page and make it easier to navigate
• give clear directions to the most important parts of the site – hence the “Listen”, “About” and “Contact” buttons at the top of the page
• provide clear links to my other profiles, on YouTube, Twitter and so on, which weren’t as important to me when version 1 went onto the internet
• give myself a way to dynamically update the front page with my recent activity
• highlight some of my better-known clients, with a random selection of logos on the homepage

I hope you’ll agree that the new page is an improvement. All things being equal, the next update will see some great innovations on the “Listen” page to make it easier to find the clips you want, and last – but by no means least – my blog, “Gobs on Sticks”, which has been “resting” since the end of last year, is all set to make a new splash.

Watch this space, and do let me know what you think. And if you like what my designer has done for me, then do check out All Design Online.

Best wishes,

Mike

May’s Earshot Creative Review is now out, and features London-based voiceover artist, Mike Cooper, and Cheshire-based female voiceover, Emma Clarke in conversation with promotions and on-air creative supremo, Steve Martin of the BBC World Service (among other places). Among the topics covered are the quality of writing for radio production, and a plea for more creativity!

You can find this month’s Earshot Creative Review here – or subscribe via iTunes.

London-based, British Voiceover Artist Mike Cooper has just narrated two short films for the charity, PSI – a leading global health organization with programs targeting malaria, child survival, HIV and reproductive health.

The two videos, produced for PSI by Washington, DC-based Home Front Communications, highlight some of the charitable work undertaken by the organisation in Thailand and Uganda. The Uganda film can be seen below, and also features on Mike Cooper’s YouTube Channel.

Permiering as part of National Geographic’s contribution to Earth Day 2010, London-based, British Voiceover Artist Mike Cooper, narrates “Pacific Ocean Paradise” for Earth Day 2010 on the National Geographic Channel. Here’s a clip:

“In a remote corner of the South Pacific, National Geographic Explorer Enric Sala one of the worlds leading marine ecologists leads an elite team into an isolated underwater Eden. Sharks reign in the southern Line Islands, where humans rarely visit and survival is still of the fittest. Completing a daring survey of life on the reef from the micro to the mega, the research team uncovers secrets in what could be the last unspoiled archipelago on Earth.

Covering nearly 3,300 kilometres on the 30-day expedition, the team faces a host of dangers exposed to powerful currents and huge waves. What they find calls into question everything we know about a healthy reef ecosystem.

Along the journey, they find over three times as much coral as any other reef in the Indo-Pacific on Flint Island. Surrounding Malden Island the test site of three nuclear bombs in 1958 the team finds a reef exploding with life and ten times more sharks than any other studied reef on the planet. Millennium Atoll offers a surprising refuge for blacktip reef sharks while Starbuck Island has the second largest biomass of any reef ever studied.”

Pacific Island Paradise is repeated on Saturday 15 May at 11am on Nat Geo Wild. Nat Geo Wild is available on Sky Digital 528 (Knowledge pack), Virgin Media 228 (XL pack) and UPC channel number 216.

London-based British Voiceover Artist, Mike Cooper, can be heard as the narrator of “Warrior Chimps” – NEW tonight at 9pm on Nat Geo Wild. Here’s a clip:

Travelling to the heart of Senegal, where chimpanzees are fashioning their own spears and using them to hunt bushbabies, this fascinating programme asks whether these chimps are giving us a window into the lives of our earliest ancestors…

It’s also showing in High Definition, and it’s repeated this week:

- Wed, 21st, 12am Nat Geo Wild
- Wed, 21st, 2pm Nat Geo Wild
- Sun, 25th, 9pm Nat Geo Wild

Nat Geo Wild is available on Sky Digital 528 (Knowledge pack), Virgin Media 228 (XL pack) and UPC channel number 216.

Nat Geo Wild HD is available on Sky Digital 544 (Knowledge pack) and UPC HD channel number 222.

Beginning tonight, Thursday 15th April at 8pm, London-based British voiceover artist Mike Cooper narrates a new ten-part series airing on Military History.

This documentary series serves as a timely reminder of a defining period in the history of Great Britain, providing a powerful social and military history of the nation during the Second World War.

Comprised of an extraordinary collection of interviews and testimonies from those who lived through and survived the uncertainties, fears and horrors of World War II, Britain At War offers a compelling insight into the extraordinary events which helped determine the future of the entire world.

Military History is on Sky channel 531. For more information visit http://tv.sky.com/britain-at-war or see the Vox Daily news release.

Another set of videos for Kovboy Film in the Faroe Islands are in the process of production, complete with my voiceover.

Here’s an example. This one features the ferry ride to Tórshavn.

This weekend I provided the British voiceovers for two new programmes for AETN’s Crime & Investigation Network.

The programmes are both for the “Investigative Reports” strand. The first is called “Girls, Gangs and the Hood” and focuses on how young girls become embroiled in gangs, how they break the cycle, and what hope there is for a life afterwards. The transmission date is yet to be announced.

The second programme is called “Forensics Under Fire”. Forensic science makes good TV, but does it make good science? New legal standards have highlighted flaws with a number of forensic techniques, but will this mean freedom for innocent convicts? This programme sets out to investigate. The programme is showing at the end of March.

Crikey, it’s the middle of February already. Where did January go?

Well, in my case a third of it went on spending some time in the Florida sunshine, and it was worth every penny. January and February are, in my experience, quieter months for work, so it’s a great opportunity to grab some much-needed winter sun without worrying too much that the sky might fall in on the voiceover front.

That said, there’s been plenty of stuff going on. During January I completed the last of the “Britain at War” TV re-versions for Simply Media. They will begin airing in April on Military History, who wanted a change of voice from the one used in the DVD issue, to one of their “preferred” voices (I was surprised and flattered to find out that not only was I one of these, but that I’d been picked from that select group!)

Also in January a programme I voiced for National Geographic, “The Secret World of Fireworks”, got its first showing. I’ll post a clip here and on my YouTube channel as soon as I get chance.

Kovboy Film in the Faroe Islands have been in touch this morning to say that they’re ready to get moving on their final twelve films highlighting life, business and the tourist possibilities in the Faroes. You can see some of these on my YouTube channel too, as well as on the video section of my Facebook page.

Last week I completed the British voiceover for a promotional film for Navteq, who provide location-aware mapping and advertising solutions. I hope to post this online too at some point.

And I’ve just been booked by an independent filmmaker here in the UK to provide the voiceover track for the documentary he’s making on Dracula…

So, though I haven’t written much here, there’s been plenty going on, as well as my regular appearances on the BBC World Service as a newsreader, and as a continuity announcer for both the History Channel and Film24. Remember you can always follow me on Twitter for the latest on what’s happening – and I love to hear from you there too, so drop me a line!

In the second of two marathon events featuring the vocal talents of British Voiceover Artist Mike Cooper this holiday season, History and History HD (Sky 529 and 545) are giving viewers another chance to see the groundbreaking “Dinosaur Secrets” throughout the day, with back-to-back programmes from 9am. Then from 9pm the marathon moves exclusively to History HD and continues into 2010!

The series features cutting-edge CGI animation and expert hypotheses to recreate some of the biggest battles in the fossil record and has proved a remarkable success this year on History, with a second season currently in the planning stages.

For more showing times for programmes featuring Mike Cooper visit his TV Schedule page

Following the premiere of “World’s Tallest Tree” last night on Nat Geo Wild HD, here’s a clip from my YouTube channel.

There’s more information about the show on the National Geographic Channel website. The programme gets its next outing on Saturday 2nd January 2010 at 2pm. Nat Geo Wild is on Sky 528 and Virgin TV 228.

I recently provided UK voiceover narration for National Geographic Channel’s “World’s Tallest Tree“, which gets its first transmission tonight at 10pm on Nat Geo Wild.

“As the world’s largest and oldest trees, the redwood stirs up big passions. Following two fanatical redwood fans, this documentary introduces us to explorer Mike Fay, who is charting this forest giant’s range, and Steve Sillett – a man who has dislocated limbs and risked death trying to climb the tallest of these magnificent trees. In an epic, year-long journey, and using high-tech aerial laser surveys, discover the little explored environment of the redwoods. Featuring breathtaking footage we take a look into the past, present and future of this spectacular forest dweller and discover what makes the redwood so special.”

The show premieres Monday 28 December 2009 at 10pm, with repeats on Tuesday 29 December at 1am and Saturday 2 January at 2pm.

Nat Geo Wild is on Sky 528 and Virgin TV 228.

Earlier this year, British Voiceover Artist Mike Cooper narrated six programmes for National Geographic’s “Ultimate Africa” series, following veteran safari guide Jean du Plessis across Africa.

This afternoon from 3pm, Nat Geo Wild (Sky 528) shows the series in full, in the first of two marathons featuring Mike Cooper over the holiday season. The second marathon is on New Year’s Eve on History and History HD, and sees the entire first season of “Dinosaur Secrets” showing back-to-back throughout the day and overnight.

For more showing times visit Mike Cooper’s TV Schedule page

I recently narrated the History Channel’s British version of “Seven Signs of the Apocalypse”, a two-hour documentary special for the channel’s “Armageddon Week”. Here’s a clip, from my YouTube channel.

Recently I was the narrator for the History Channel’s British version of the documentary “Sicily’s Mummies”. Here’s a clip, from my YouTube channel.

The programme gets its final outing – for now – on Saturday 19th December at 9pm on History (Sky 529 and 545)

Tonight from 8pm History (the History Channel) in the UK begins its “Armageddon Week”. Premiering tonight at 9pm as part of the line-up is a two-hour special: “7 Signs of the Apocalypse”, narrated by British Voiceover Artist Mike Cooper.

“The Seven Signs are clear: We will be struck by deadly plagues, famines and earthquakes; The sky will turn dark and oceans will turn to blood; And the antichrist will emerge to fight the final battle between good and evil. Could this all be true?

Experts decode this powerful prophecy and come to a startling conclusion: there is now scientific evidence that many of these catastrophes could, in fact, be occurring. A star falling from the sky could be one of thousands of rogue asteroids that may be approaching earth. The plague foretold in the Bible could be a deadly strain of avian virus that researchers fear could kill millions. Oceans turning blood red could be triggered by microorganisms that release dangerous neurotoxins that have the same effect as nerve gas.

To reveal the ultimate truth behind the prophecy, this investigation will turn to the past to reveal why the prophecy was written, and why it maintains such a powerful hold on our imagination today.”

Armageddon Week then continues through to Friday with programmes every night, both on History and on History HD (Sky 529 and 545).

For further showing times for this programme visit Mike Cooper’s TV Schedule page.

Here are the dates and times for first transmissions of the following recently-completed programmes featuring my voiceover narrations:

Bio
John Candy – Sunday 6th December at 8pm
Chevy Chase – Sunday 6th December at 9pm

History/History HD
7 Signs of the Apocalypse – Monday 14th December at 9pm

National Geo Wild
The Secret World of Fireworks – Saturday 9th January at 10am
World’s Tallest Tree – Monday 28th December at 10pm

You can check other showing times in my TV Schedule.

London-based Voiceover Artist Mike Cooper has added British narration to two more documentaries for Bio (the Biography Channel) in the UK.

Fondly remembered as the friendly giant who always made us laugh, John Candy starred as some of Hollywood’s most comic characters, before his untimely death in 1994.

The one-hour John Candy biography gets its first airing on 8pm on Sunday 6th December 2009 (repeated Monday 7th December at 9am and 1pm). First transmission dates for the Henry Winkler programme have not yet been announced.

Bio is on Sky 156 and Virgin 242, and you can check out showings of other programmes voiced by Mike Cooper on his TV Schedule page.

I’ve just been asked to provide the British voiceover narration for National Geographic Channel’s “The Secret World of Fireworks”. We’re recording this Friday, and I’ll post a transmission date when it’s confirmed.

“Secret World of Fireworks explores the closely held secrets, recipes, and techniques from the world of pyrotechnic showmen. National Geographic takes a behind the scenes look into this exclusive world with unique access from Zambelli Internationale of New Castle, Pennsylvania – Americas First Family of Fireworks – along with rocket scientists and chemists from Los Alamos, New Mexico.”

I’ve also been asked to voice another programme: “Redwoods – The Tallest Trees” and will post more information when I get it!