The BEST episodes directed by Charlie Russell
#1 - Terry Pratchett - Back in Black
BBC Documentaries - Season 2017 - Episode 24
Poignant and humorous film telling the story of the hugely popular author Terry Pratchett, creator of Discworld, whose books have sold over 85 million copies worldwide. When the writer Sir Terry Pratchett died in 2015, he was working on one last story - his own. But Terry's Alzheimer's meant he never got to finish it. Back in Black reveals Terry's road to success was not always easy, from his troubled schooldays to being dismissed by literary critics, to his battle with Alzheimer's. But knighted by the Queen, adored by millions of fans and with a legacy of 41 much-loved novels - Terry Pratchett is still having the last laugh.
#2 - Chris Packham: 7.7 Billion People and Counting
Horizon - Season 2020 - Episode 2
Naturalist Chris Packham investigates the impact a growing human population is having on the planet, asking whether the earth can sustain predictions of ten billion people by 2050.
#3 - Beryl's Last Year
BBC Documentaries - Season 2007 - Episode 19
The novelist Dame Beryl Bainbridge thinks she's going to die at the age of 71, because everyone in her family died when they were that age, from her mother and father to her grandparents, aunts and uncles. Opening with her 71st birthday, this uniquely personal film, made by Beryl's eldest grandson Charlie Russell, follows Beryl as she lives out her 'last year', prepares for her death and tries to write her final novel.
#4 - Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die
BBC Documentaries - Season 2011 - Episode 107
In a frank and personal documentary, author Sir Terry Pratchett considers how he might choose to end his life. Diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2008, Terry wants to know whether he might be able to end his life before his disease takes over. Travelling to the Dignitas Clinic in Switzerland, Terry witnesses first hand the procedures set out for assisted death, and confronts the point at which he would have to take the lethal drug.
#5 - Terry Pratchett: Facing Extinction
BBC Documentaries - Season 2013 - Episode 51
Best-selling author Sir Terry Pratchett, diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2007, has one last adventure he wants to go on. Eighteen years ago Terry had a life-changing experience in the jungles of Borneo, where he encountered orangutans in the wild for the first time. Now he is going back to find out what the future holds for these endangered species, and discover a new threat to their habitat that could push them to the brink of extinction. His Alzheimer's will make the trip an incredible challenge both physically and mentally, as he contemplates the role of mankind in the eradication of the planet's species, and considers his own inevitable extinction. Terry is accompanied by his friend and assistant Rob Wilkins, as they investigate an Indonesian street market where endangered species are reportedly on sale, meet the world expert on orangutans, Dr Birute Galdikas, and journey into the rainforest in search of the former king of the orangutans, Kusasi.