Shark Week 2025: Great White Reign of Terror

Gibbs Kuguru & Ryan Johnson race to find the root cause of a worrying string of South African shark attacks - before its too late.

category

Factual entertainment

client

Discovery Channel

Talesmith were commissioned by Discovery Channel to produce another prime time show, for Shark Week 2025.

Featuring exclusive footage of predatory killer whales 'Port' and 'Starboard', this thrilling film follows shark biologists RyanJohnson and Gibbs Kuguru as they investigate a string of recent shark attacks, drawing comparisons with the 1957 'Reign of Terror' known as 'Black December', when South Africa suffered its worst spate of attacks in history. Back then it was a freak sequence of events that came together to create a perfect storm for shark attacks. Could the influence of orcas hunting great whites in the Western Cape be driving great white sharks east, into areas packed with humans?

Together with Andy Casagrande, Zandi Ndlovu and Matt Dicken, the team race to find the root cause of the recent shark attacks before the situation worsens when the beaches flood with tourists in the summer. Could history’s Black December be about to repeat itself?

Behind the scenes

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Filmed over two years, our teams travelled the length and breadth of the 'Wild Coast', the least studied stretch of coastline in South Africa. Finding great white sharks isn't as easy as it once was, with their distribution becoming more of a mystery - a product of environmental changes and the presence of predatory orcas. With our network of spotters and drone operators we were able to keep our finger on the pulse, working with scientist Alison Towner to tag and monitor the sharks' movements.

credits

Producer Director ALEX HEMINGWAY

PD & Executive Producer MARTIN WILLIAMS

Editor FELIX BLACK

Production Manager JOLENE FILMER

AP MARIANA KNEPPERS

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