Egypt (TV Series) - Production

Production

The series was a major new docudrama produced by the BBC for the Autumn 2005 schedule.

The whole idea behind the series was to be able to discover Ancient Egypt through the eyes of Howard Carter – famous for uncovering the tomb of Tutankhamun; The Great Belzoni – an amazing adventurer and explorer; and the scholar Jean-François Champollion, who was the first to decipher the Rosetta Stone and open up the meaning of hieroglyphics. —Executive Producer Phil Dolling

In order to create a sense of seeing the treasures of Ancient Egypt for the first time Dolling and Bradshaw felt it essential to film at the actual archaeological sites referenced in the series.

We had fantastic help from the Government and a local production crew, they managed to fix it for us to film in areas that, as far as we know, have never been used by other television or film productions. —Series Producer Paul Bradshaw Being the first UK TV company to attempt such a project in the most amazing historical sights was very exhilarating, and to be able to return them - with additional sets and some computer imagery - to how they were during the time of the Pharaohs was incredible. —Executive Producer Phil Dolling

Filming at such invaluable and popular sites created new challenges for the film makers.

Keeping people out of shot was one - sometimes this was nearing impossible - but we tended to shoot early in the day so disruptions were kept to a minimum. The other was obviously making sure we didn't damage anything, which thankfully we managed! —Series Producer Paul Bradshaw It was difficult keeping such a unique project running so far from home, and it is a tribute to the cast and crew that we managed to succeed. The series really is great and looks fantastic, well worth all the hard work." —Executive Producer Phil Dolling

The co-production between BBC and The Learning Channel was initially budgeted at around £6.5m but problems filming on location in Egypt, including the weather and illness, meant the producers required another £2million. Post production costs involved in recreating Ancient Egypt meant that the final costs could have resulted in a £5million overspend but the BBC denied this.

"To suggest the overspend is anything in the £5m is utterly ridiculous - it is simply not true. This was a huge project shot on location in Egypt and, as with any project of such scale, we had contingency funds available to us - so the unavoidable overspend was accommodated for and fully authorised." "I think it's useful to point out that the cost per hour of Egypt will still be lower than other comparable programmes such as Pompeii, Genghis Khan and Pyramid. In fact, due to the international co-financing, this is actually incredibly good value for money providing full period drama for the budget normally associated with a documentary." — BBC controller of specialist factual, Keith Scholey

Several multi-media productions were commissioned to tie-in with the series including interactive drama BBC Egypt Interactive, award-winning online-game Death in Sakkara: An Egyptian Adventure, and an interactive exhibition at BBC Birmingham.

The companion documentary series Egyptian Journeys, in which architectural historian Dan Cruickshank travels the country to explore some of the intriguing stories that have emerged from Ancient Egypt, was broadcast concurrently on BBC Two.