Tern Prepping Doc on Cloned Sheep Dolly

BBC Factual and BBC Scotland have commissioned the Zinc Media Group company Tern Television to make Dolly: The Sheep that Changed the World for BBC Two and iPlayer.

Dolly: The Sheep that Changed the World tells the story of the Scottish scientists who created the cloned sheep named Dolly. At a small sheep farm just outside Edinburgh in the ’90s, the genetic scientists had been working in secret for over a decade before making headlines around the world, winning both praise and criticism. The scientists give their side of the story in the doc, which combines privileged access and never-before-seen archive.

Dolly: The Sheep that Changed the World is distributed internationally by BBC Studios.

Harry Bell, managing director at Tern Television, said: “Dolly was a sensation when she captured the imagination of the world 25 years ago. Her birth sparked moral outrage from the White House to The Vatican as cloning became a reality. How did a tiny band of boffins on a farm near Edinburgh crack the holy grail of modern science—with a sheep? Told for the first time, this is the bonkers but brilliant story, about how they created the sheep that changed the world and had fun doing it. It’s the ultimate game of clones.”

David Harron, commissioning editor at BBC Scotland, said: “This is a cracking story which combines transformative science with human achievement against huge odds. Dolly fired the imagination of the public at the time, and we are delighted to be able to tell the story for our audiences through the recollections of those involved 25 years on.”

Tom Coveney, commissioning editor at Horizon, added: “Dolly stole the limelight, but it’s the amazing team of scientists behind her who pulled off the seemingly impossible and are as big an inspiration today as they were 25 years ago: we’re proud to share their story with our viewers. It’s brilliant that the talented team at Tern have brought this joyful story of Scottish innovation and ’90s nostalgia to our screens.”