John Paul Davidson spent two years as a Commonwealth Scholar in Malaysia, after which he made Malay Magic  for the BBC’s World About Us. He then spent 15 years specialising in making anthropological films before leaving to make The Grotesque starring Alan Bates, Sting, Lena Headey, and Jim Carter. Drama- documentaries Galahad Of Everest with Brian Blessed, Catherine the Great and Seve-the movie were interspersed with filmed portraits of Gore Vidal, Jean Genet, The Dalai Lama, Hugh Laurie,  Brazilian transvestites, Venetian gondoliers, Hmong opium harvesters and Mosuo matriarchs amongst many other. He has made the last four series with Michael Palin travelling across the Sahara, the Himalaya, New Europe and Brazil filming many indigenous peoples. With Stephen Fry he travelled across all of the USA, through Central America, and delved into language in all its manifestations in Planet Word.