David Paterson has been at the forefront of science programme making for almost four decades.   For much of that time, he was a producer and executive producer in BBC Television’s Science Department producing and directing many of the BBC's most notable science programmes.  He was a member of the team that made Dr Jacob Bronowski's landmark series "The Ascent of Man".  

The majority of his work has been devoted to making thought provoking documentaries: he has made films with some of the world’s most outstanding scientists - including Richard Feynman, Francis Crick, Murray Gell-Mann, Abdus Salam, Walter Gilbert, Roger Penrose and Sydney Brenner.  He devised and produced the weeklong series called Hospital Watch for BBC 1  - the first series was seen by over 70% of the UK population.   In recent years, having left the BBC, he has produced acclaimed films about Alzheimer’s Disease, about the secret history of the Inca Civilisation,  the cause of the Ice Ages, the much debated subject of Stem Cell research and Life Prolongation, and the use of animals in medical research.