Wildlife film-maker and cameraman. Born in Alexandria in the Vale of Leven, and raised in Dumbarton and on Mull, where he began his career working in a restaurant. The owner's husband, filmmaker Nick Gordon, took him to Sierra Leone in 1989 as his assistant. Trips to Venezuela and Brazil followed. Working independently from 1995, Buchanan worked on Big Cat Diary for BBC television and contributed to their annual Springwatch and Autumnwatch series. He helped with the three-part Lost Land of the Volcano in 2009. He made and presented The Bear Family & Me (2011) and The Polar Bear Family & Me (2013), then filmed sea eagles on Mull for the Natural World in 2015. This was followed by Leopard in the City in 2016, while Animals with Cameras (2018) revealed the intimate behaviour within a range of animal species from meerkats to cheetahs and chimpanzees.
Buchanan was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Stirling (2003) for outstanding services to conservation and wildlife film-making, followed by an MBE in 2020. Through his film-making, he has helped to create a greater awareness of the plight of endangered animals, working to improve their chances of survival.
He lives in Glasgow with his wife and two children.
