How we shot the sharks

No cage for Planet Earth l's opening

- NICOLA METHVEN

THE cameramen who risked their lives to film great white sharks for the Jaws-dropping opening to Planet Earth III say they "underplayed the potential dangers".

Viewers were left staggered by the sequence on Sunday night, filmed in South Africa's Plettenberg Bay, which showed fur seals mobbing together to drive the deadly sharks out to sea.

But Justin Blake and Roger Horrocks said getting close to the predators, who killed two humans in 2022, the year after they left the bay, was "a privilege".

The men, who did not use a shark cage, said there were times when the sharks swam so close they could have touched them.

"You want to be as close as possible to get the crispest shot, Justin said. "We were in less than six feet of water and the shark swam right over us."

Roger said: "The key thing is that there were two of us, because they definitely try to sneak up behind you. The other thing that was critical was making sure visibility was really good.