Released 10.04.25

The Conversation

Bruce Parry talks about his new BBC series Tribe — three episodes, now available on BBC iPlayer, which explore the lives of remote Indigenous communities in Angola’s Namib Desert, the Amazon in Colombia, and Sumba in Indonesia. An old friend of Sophy’s, he speaks with moving candour about restlessness, loneliness, aging and death, and what it means to be a ‘nut without a shell’ — including why that phrase moved him to tears.

Bruce reflects on the ethical complexities of ‘first contact’, They discuss the controversial term ‘tribe’. He highlights the impact of climate change on Indigenous peoples, and the importance of community and ancestral connection.

In a powerful exchange about disease and poverty, Parry emphasises the need for balance between modern knowledge and traditional ways of life.

The conversation culminates in an uplifting recollection of an ayahuasca ceremony in the Amazon — an experience which left him feeling a deep sense of gratitude and connection to the community and the forest. But how to render that profundity on TV? It’s a challenging medium for conveying nuance, in ways that books are not.

“What I always try and do is listen and observe and learn before I say my piece,” says Bruce; “That doesn’t mean to say that I don't arrive with some views. But what I've discovered again and again in so many of these environments and so many of these situations is that my views get changed by the very act of participating.”