ABOUT
Christopher Riley is a double BAFTA and triple Grierson-nominated documentary film director and writer specialising in science, engineering and history. He has directed and produced more than thirty films for the BBC, Film4, Netflix, Disney, National Geographic, The Discovery Channel and the Smithsonian, and has written and directed commercial shorts and branded content for HSBC, Vodafone and architects Foster + Partners.
Chris co-wrote The Moonwalkers with Tom Hanks; an immersive film which premiered at Lightroom London in December 2023, to five-star reviews, and in Lightroom Soeul in June 2024.
He is best known for his BBC film The Girl who talked to Dolphins – nominated for every major UK documentary award, and his innovative experiential documentary First Orbit – recreating Yuri Gagarin's pioneering space flight, screened on over 1600 screens in more than 130 countries, including UNESCO HQ in Paris.
He conceived and co-produced the Sundance-winning Ron Howard documentary In the Shadow of the Moon, and produced the Netflix/BBC Storyville true-crime thriller The Fear of 13, which premiered at the London Film Festival and was nominated for a Grierson. He wrote, produced and directed across the hit National Geographic Will Smith series One Strange Rock, and the BBC/PBS Patrick Stewart series Revolutions.
His VR show of astronaut Tim Peake’s Soyuz Capsule return to Earth has been seen by over 50,000 people across the UK and his novel video installations, using found footage, have been screened around the world. His Apollo 11 fiftieth anniversary collaboration with 59Productions - a commission from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum - Go for the Moon - projected animations and footage onto the Washington Monument, attracting half a million people to the National Mall in Washington D.C. for America’s celebrations.
His most recent documentary films for smaller screens include:
The Twenty Million Dollar Time Bomb: Commissioned by National Geographic this documentary tells the story of Austria's most notorious mass murderer Udo Proksch, who blew up a ship in the 1970s to claim the insurance money, killing half the crew, and the team of explorers who hacked technology to track down the wreck and bring the murderer to justice. The film won the Gold Medal for best documentary on History and Society at the 2024 New York Festivals TV & Film Awards and was nominated for a 2024 Maritime Media Award.
Narcos: two stories from the front line of the war on drugs for National Geographic and Disney+. A Drain the Oceans story.
One Cup a Thousand Stories - a unique BBC Studios landmark commission from China - on the art, science, history and culture of tea.
Battle for the Black Swan – a groundbreaking documentary for National Geographic, uniting the treasure hunter team that recovered the long-lost wreck of a Spanish galleon from almost a mile beneath the North Atlantic, and the legal team that fought to bring it back to Spain. Nominated for a BAFTA, and winner of the Gold Medal for best documentary on History and Society at the 2022 New York Festivals TV & Film Awards.
Future Fantastic: China’s Science Revolution. Five films profiling Chinese scientists and engineers, working at the top of their chosen fields in medicine, genetics, robotics, cosmology and planetary science; made in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
He is a part-time eclipse chaser - presenting the BBC’s coverage of them from the Channel Islands in 1999, Zambia in 2001, the Faroe Islands in 2015, and hosting smaller audiences in the United States in 2017 & 2024.
He is the author of over a dozen books, including the best selling Haynes Apollo 11 owner’s workshop manual, and the acclaimed children’s book Where once we stood, nominated for a 2020 Kate Greenaway award. He has written for The Guardian newspaper and the Evening Standard, and has presented science documentaries for BBC Radio 4.
FILMS
WRITING
BOOKS
Where once we stood, Artemis edition, 2024. Harbour Moon Publishing.
Fiftieth Anniversary Apollo 11 owner’s workshop manual, Haynes.
Where once we stood, 2019, Harbour Moon Publishing.
Voyager 1 & 2, an owner's workshop manual, Haynes.
A Passion for Science: Stories of Discovery and Invention. Ada Lovelace.
Does my Goldfish Know who I am? Faber and Faber.
Why can't I tickle myself? Faber and Faber.
The Apollo Lunar Rover, 1971-72 - an owner's workshop manual. Haynes
Apollo 11, 1969 - an owner's workshop manual. Haynes (Read an extract here).
Big Questions from Little People. Faber and Faber. Read an extract here.
International Cooperation for the Development of Space. CS
Gagarin in Britain. British Council
Space Odyssey - voyage to the planets. BBC Books
Encyclopedia of the Universe. Collins
Visit his Amazon author page.
ARTICLES
From Mars to Earth, Medium.
Worlds Apart, Medium.
Is space poised to take another giant leap? Room
Where once we stood. Federation of Children’s Book Groups
Going back to the Moon is vital for the survival of the human race. The Evening Standard.
Hubble's Unsung Heroes. The Guardian.
The Girl who talked to Dolphins. Radio Times.
The dolphin who loved me. Observer/Guardian.
Richard Feynman: Life, the universe and everything. The Telegraph.
Tire Tracks to Our Future: 40th Anniversary of NASA's Lunar Rover. America Space.
Into the Great Unknown. Air and Space Magazine.
Apollo 40 years on: how the moon missions changed the world for ever. The Observer.
The Maths that made Voyager possible. BBC News.
Voyager: the space explorers that are still boldly going to the stars. The Observer
The Human Imperative. The Financial Chronicle.
Words of Captain Scott: 100 years of hindsight. The Wellcome Trust.
Space Shuttle: An open letter to President Obama. The Guardian.
What Yuri Gagarin saw: First Orbit film to reveal the view from Vostok 1. The Guardian.
Sound restored to mission control film shot during Apollo 11 moon landing. The Guardian.
The Magic of Apollo. BBC News
Twelve Men who have visited another world. The Guardian.
The 400,000 strong backup team. The Guardian, G2
Rendezvous around the Moon. BBC News
Flight of the Spider. BBC News
A missing 'a'. Tumblr
Happy Birthday Earthrise. BBC News
A view from the Cosmic Shoulder. BBC News
We Choose to go to the Planets. BBC News
Pushing Frontiers in TV Space. BBC News
Concorde - a tribute, Tumblr
zero G, Tumblr
Shaken back to Health. BBC News
UK First Impact Crater Discovered. BBC News
Robot Insects Take to the Air. BBC News
Glowing Plants reveal Touch Sensitivity. BBC News
In the Leonids Lair. BBC News
Voyage Through a Comets Tail. BBC News
When Worlds Collide. BBC News
Return to Mission Leonid. BBC News
An invitation to the firework party. BBC News
Take a peek at Venus unveiled and die. The Independent
All the answers from dial-a-boffin. The Independent
PAST BLOG POSTS
ART PROJECTS
(selected works)
Riley’s art projects draw on elements of human spaceflight and exploration beyond Earth to connect audiences with planetary scales and moments in our shared history as a species. Through this work he seeks to remind us of the larger canvas that all our lives play out upon.
Worlds Apart
In the run-up to NASA’s Perseverance Lander touching down on Mars, this inter-planetary mapping project connects the previous NASA Martian landing sites to their equivalent locations on Earth, in terms of latitude and longitude, to draw attention to climate change.
Apollo 50 - Go for the Moon
In a collaboration with 59Productions, commissioned by the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, this live sound and light show was created to mark the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing. It was projected onto the Washington Monument and screens along the National Mall.
Apollo Raw and Uncut
A unique video installation, created to immerse us in NASA’s original Moon missions, by projecting all 13 hours of Agency’s 16mm Apollo flight film collection into public spaces around the world. Much of this footage, including an almost 8-minute sequence documenting a long drive across the rugged Descartes Highlands had never been screened in its entirety in public before. The aim of the installation was to present the story of Apollo in as unedited and unfiltered form as possible. The work was first exhibited at London’s Science Museum, in 2009 and subsequently screened in Montreal, Quebec, at the Canadian Centre for Architecture and at Lincoln’s Digital Culture Festival - ‘Frequency’.
First Orbit
To mark the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight, Riley collaborated with the European Space Agency and the British Council to create an experiential film called First Orbit. It combines the original voice recordings from the Soviet Vostok 1 mission with footage of the Earth, specially shot from the cupola onboard the International Space Station, as it passed over the same ground path that Gagarin crossed in April 1961. The resulting 108-minute film premiered on over 1600 screens in more than 130 countries, including at UNESCO HQ in Paris, and online to the largest audience in YouTube history at the time, for a long-form film release.
Voyager’s Final Message.
A campaigning piece of crowd-sourced art designed to invite NASA to transmit a final text-based message from humanity to the Voyager 1 & 2 spacecraft to lodge in their aging memory banks before we lose contact.
NEWS
2024
September
“The $20m Time Bomb” is nominated for a Maritime Media Award.
2024
July
Remember Apollo 11 at fifty-five, in Lightroom London.
2023
December
The Moonwalkers opens at Lightroom London.
July
Co-writing a new show called The Moonwalkers, for the Lightroom London, with Tom Hanks.
2023
February
Completing final post on ‘The $20m Time Bomb‘- my documentary about Austria’s most notorious serial killer.
2022
December
Completing final post on ‘Narcos’ - my latest documentary for National Geographic.
September
Starting work on my latest true crime doc for National Geographic; the story of Austria’s most notorious serial killer, who blew up a ship to claim the insurance, killing half the crew and the team of US investigators who tracked down the wreck in waters deeper than the Titanic, to bring him to justice.
March
Starting work on Narcos, for National Geographic and Disney+; telling two stories from the front line of the way on drugs, from the 1970s trafficking of cocaine through the Bahamas by Escobar’s Medellin cartel, to the tunnels across the US-Mexican border by the Sinaloa cartel and the United States attempts to stop them.
February
NASA’s Perseverance Rover landed on Mars one year ago. We've traveled to the equivalent spot here on Earth, in terms of latitude and longitude. The people who live there have a message for our time. Learn more about this project on the BBC’s Digital Planet podcast.
2021
October
Appearing on the Naked Science podcast to talk about my World’s Apart project.
My “Message in a Bottle” campaign for COP26 goes live.
One cup, a thousand stories premiers in China.
Battle for the Black Swan premieres on National Geographic
April
Speaking at an Astronomer’s without Borders Facebook Live event. Archived here.
February
I’ve mapped all NASA’s Mars landing sites back onto Earth. The results may surprise you. Learn more about this art project on the BBC’s Digital Planet podcast.
2020
December
Giving the Flamstead Astronomical Society’s Christmas lecture on the Hubble Space Telescope.
November
Speaking at the Sligo Science Festival, about how we hacked our way off the planet.
September
Speaking at the Sophia Science Festival about the story of how we first engineered our way off Earth.
August
Joining the Drain the Oceans team at MSP and National Geographic/Disney to tell an extraordinary story.
Speaking at the InvestIN Education global Young Engineer event, on the challenge of getting into orbit.
July
The Federation of European Neuroscience Societies screening of my film about Chinese Neuroscientist Mu-Ming Poo’s pioneering work on Altzeimer’s disease.
March
Filming with Robin Shattock’s COVID-19 vaccine team at Imperial College, London.
Working with Itza Media and WWF on their Netflix, Our Planet project for schools.
Speaking about Hubble at 30 - from Dream to Reality, at UCL’s Your Universe festival.
January
Completing final post production on Future Fantastic - my new series on the Chinese science revolution
2019
November
Returning to China for pick up shoots for new China science series.
Speaking at the University of Cambridge, on our return to the Moon.
September
Filming across China for a new series on the new Chinese science revolution.
Where once we stood - nominated for a Kate Greenaway medal.
July
Apollo 50 - Go for the Moon - draws 500,000 people to the National Mall in Washington D.C.
Back to the Moon - premiers on NOVA.
“Go for the Moon” announced to play on the National Mall in Washington D.C. for the Apollo 11 anniversary.
My new children’s book Where once we Stood - released on Amazon - makes it to number 1.
June
Speaking at the Cheltenham Science Festival - introducing Moonwalk One - and Shadow of the Moon.
Speaking at the National Geographic Explorers Festival in Washington.
May
Working through the page proofs for my new book “Where once we stood”, released in July.
April
Putting the finishing touches to my second NOVA film on returning to the Moon, to air in July 2019.
Writing my new children’s book - “Where once we stood”, a collaboration with artist Martin Impey.
Writing and editing - a new film commissioned by the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum from 59Productions.
“Breakthroughs” premieres on PBS .
March
Speaking at UCL’s Your Universe festival about plans to return to the Moon .
February
Rise of the Rockets - network premiere of my new film for NOVA on the revolution in rocket science that’s transforming access to space - premieres across the US.
January
Writing an update to my best selling Apollo 11 owner’s workshop manual - for rerelease in 2019.
IN THE MEDIA
PRESENTING
BBC FOUR - Sky at Night Hubble Special
BBC ONE - Stargazing Live - Total Eclipse Special.
BBC Radio 4 - Save the Moon
BBC Radio 4 - For All Mankind
BBC Radio 4 - The Cosmic Hunters
Browse some of my presenting clips.
INTERVIEWS / REVIEWS
Why Tom Hanks finds hope on the Moon, CNN
The Moonwalkers, Time Out.
Tom Hanks: “It’s as close as you can get to standing on the Moon”, Chris Evans, Virgin Radio
A trip to the Moon with Tom Hanks, CNN
The Moonwalkers review, The Times
Tom Hanks on London’s Moonwalkers experience, The Standard Podcast.
The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks. Lightroom. Review. Evening Standard.
Lunar Codex: digitised works of 30,000 artists to be archived on Moon, Guardian.
Apollo Missions experience opening in London in December, Evening Standard
Tom Hanks is narrating a spectacular space-themed immersive experience in London, Time Out.
Books for making sense of our existence in the Universe, Shepherd,
Mars, Mental-Health and Managing Bitcoin. The Naked Scientist Podcast.
The art of scientific storytelling. Culturico.
Russian Space. Journey Planet (Volume 55).
Mapping the Martian landing sites back onto Earth. Digital Planet, BBC World Service.
Remembering physicist Joan Feynman. Last Word, BBC Radio 4.
Remember historic lunar landing of 1969. The Telegram.
How Apollo 11 brought the world together. BBC News.
A Great Escape. The Reading Lists
Engineering and technology - Apollo 11 book reviews. E&T
Apollo 50: Go for the Moon - behind the scenes. Smithsonian
Wired book lovers guide to the Moon. Wired Magazine
Five best books on Apollo - Five Books
Science in Action - BBC World Service
Talking about Breakthrough Starshot.
Star Ship Sofa - Podcast - Remembering Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell
BBC World Service - Newshour - A history of the space suit & Tim Peake's space walk.
BBC News Online - How a British space hero was made.
BBC Radio 4 - The World Tonight - A history of the space suit & Russell Colley's tomato worm.
Stop and Search - Apple Podcast - The Fear of 13.
Jo Good - BBC Radio London - The Fear of 13.
Journali - Voyager's Final Message.
Star Ship Sofa - Podcast - Voyager's Final Message.
Sky News - Greetings Aliens! A final message from Earth.
Channel 5's Conspiracy - Moonlandings.
The Daily Telegraph - Earth to Send Final Postcard to Voyager.
New Scientist - Opinion - A final message to Voyager.
Mind Expanding Monday - Absolute Radio
Moon Machines - The Other Journal
Hubble at 25 - Sky News
Happy Birthday Hubble - New Scientist
Hubble's Cosmic Journey - London Live
Hubble at 25 - Mail Online
How it Works - Hubble's 25th Anniversary.
Channel 4's End of the World Night.
BBC1's Star Gazing Live Eclipse Special.
The looming total solar eclipse - live two way on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.
'The trouble with Mars One' - Mail Online - February 2015.
'Golden Age of Spaceflight' - Mail Online - February 2015.
The Girl who talked to Dolphins - Der Spiegel, May 2014.
The Girl who talked to Dolphins - BBC Breakfast, June 2014.
The Girl who talked to Dolphins - FLUX magazine, May 2014.
The Girl who talked to Dolphins - Daily Mail, May 2014.
Neuroscientist John Lilly's vision for a bi-species society. Sunday Express, May 2014.
My new film "The Girl who talked to Dolphins", BBC Radio 2's Arts Show. Listen here, May 2014
Celebrating Yuri Gagarin's 80th birthday with Russia Today March 2014
NASA & Japanese Space Agency's plans for a Global Precipitation Satellite Network, on Aljazeera, Feb 2014.
Comet chasing probe wakes up. Aljazeera, Jan 2014.
Comet Ison. BBC World Service TV News. November 2013.
How India Sent a probe to Mars. Newsnight, BBC2, November 2013
New Scientist - Frequency 2013 - Deceptive Digital Art Plays with More than Perception. October 2013.
Video welcome to the participants of the first international peace conference of youth - in St Petersberg - October 2013. Archived on Channel 1M
BBC News Online - Voyager-1 departs to interstellar space.
BBC World Service - Newsday - 13-09-13
The Independent - Space - the lonely Frontier.
E&T Magazine - Does sci-fi really delivery the goods?
Al Jazeera - NASA's Opportunity Rover - still motoring on Mars ten years after leaving Earth.
El Murcurio - Rusia y China ganan terreno como potencias en el espacio.
BBC World News - Impact - discussing the chances of life beyond Earth.
Al Jazeera - Reflecting on Chris Hadfield's recent mission to the ISS.
The Independent - more reflections on Chris Hadfield's mission to the ISS.
BBC Radio 4 - Debate on the value of human spaceflight.
BBC News - On Denis Tito's plans to send a couple into Martian orbit.
BBC Radio Lincolnshire - Interview about NASA's Voyager missions at their 35th anniversary.
BBC Radio Oxfordshire - Interview with Malcolm Boyden on Apollo 11.
The Next Web, Interview about Crowdfunding
BBC Radio Berkshire - Anne Diamond interview about the Space Shuttle.
BBC Radio 4 - Today interview about NASA's Ares 1x rocket.
Interview in Astrobiology Magazine , The Shoulder's of Giants
BBC Radio 4 - The Infinite Monkey Cage. 'So you want to be an astronaut'. Download the podcast from the 13th June 2011 here.
Voice of Russia, interview about celebrating Yuri Gagarin's legacy.
BBC Radio 2 Feature on Yuri Gagarin, and First Orbit.
BBC News, interview about the launch of First Orbit, 2011.
Russian Today, New Documentary Shows First Space Trip through Gagarin's Eyes.
Guardian, What Yuri Gagarin saw: First Orbit film to reveal the view from Vostok 1.
Newstalk NZ - Interview about the restoration of the classic 1970 NASA documentary Moonwalk One.
BBC News, talk about a six tonne satellite tumbling to Earth.
BBC News, talking about the Russian Progress space freighter lost.
BBC Radio 5 Live - Interview about ISS Debris risks.
Guardian Podcast - Space historian Chris Riley talks to Jon Dennis about Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.
BBC Radio 4 - Today Programme - the work of historian Chris Riley and forensic linguist John Olsson on the first words spoken on the Moon.
Guardian Podcast - Apollo 11 anniversary special.
Guardian Apollo 11 archive special - narrated by Chris Riley.
BBC Newsround, Rollout of NASA's new rocket - the Ares 1-X.
BBC News - Armstrong's Poetic Slip on the Moon
BBC Radio 5 live - Debate about the danger of asteroid impact.
GMTV - interview about the restoration of Moonwalk One.
BBC World Service Interview about the anniversary of the Apollo 8 Earthrise picture.
BBC Radio 4 - Today programme debate about the value of human spaceflight.
AstroTalk UK - Journey to the Moon.
Guardian Podcast - 'In the Shadow of the Moon'
BBC Radio 4 - Science at 9 - 'Contact Impact' - The 2001 Leonid meteor storm.
BBC Radio 4 - Today programme interview about the Leonids.
BBC Radio 4 - News interview about the Leonids.
BBC Radio 4 - Today - Interview from 1994 about Science Line.
Reporting
BBC ONE - Inside Out - Light Pollution
