Renowned actors Sir Stephen Fry and Dame Joanna Lumley have joined forces to lend their voices to a captivating new wildlife film created by the organization Explorers Against Extinction.

Powerful New Film Featuring Sir Stephen Fry and Dame Joanna Lumley Urges Action to Save World’s Wildlife

On Friday 17 October 2025, a powerful new short film featuring the voices of Sir Stephen Fry and Dame Joanna Lumley will be released to the public. The film, titled “Act Now – Before Pictures Are All We Have Left,” is a call to action to save the world’s wildlife and shows that together, we can make a difference.

Created by digital artist Nick Stone from a brief by conservation charity Explorers Against Extinction (EAE), the film aims to raise awareness and funds for frontline conservation efforts. It is the emotional centerpiece of EAE’s 2025 Sketch for Survival (SFS) campaign and fundraising art auction.

The film will be launched publicly on Friday 17 October, with bidding for the charity’s online auction open until 23 November. The auction features over 150 original artworks and photographs donated by artists and photographers from around the world.

Narrated by Fry and Lumley, the film opens with footage of threatened species in their natural habitats, which are increasingly degraded by human activity. It then transitions to show these animals placed within the urban landscape of London, against recognizable landmarks such as the Thames, London Eye, and Oxo Tower Wharf. The film’s message is clear: if we do not act now, pictures may be all we have left of these endangered species.

“Natural habitats are vanishing. Destroyed by over-exploitation, pollution and climate change. And many species face extinction,” narrate Fry and Lumley.

The film’s imagery is striking and poignant – orangutans travelling on the Tube, elephants walking past London buses, and a red panda clinging to a Way Out sign. The closing sequence shows various threatened species inside the Oxo Gallery itself, gazing up at artworks depicting their kind. All of these pieces feature in this year’s exhibition and auction.

“We can make a difference. By working with conservation partners and communities worldwide we can protect endangered species and the habitats they need to survive. We must act now, before pictures are all we have left,” say Fry and Lumley.

The Sketch for Survival collection features over 100 artworks donated to EAE, a largely volunteer-led charity founded on the spirit of giving. The Sketch for Survival (SFS) and Focus for Survival (FFS) are annual international competitions celebrating creativity for conservation. Each year, thousands of entries are received from around the world, with finalists exhibited and auctioned to raise funds for wildlife projects.

Since SFS began nine years ago, artists from 119 nationalities have contributed, each donating an original piece depicting a threatened species, at-risk wild space, or wider conservation story. This year’s 100 SFS finalist artworks feature over 50 threatened species, from iconic elephants and big cats to lesser-known animals including the spectacled flying fox, horned marsupial frog, and Cuban crocodile. All SFS100 artworks start at £100, while other auction lots vary in price.

Audiences can experience the film and view the Sketch for Survival collection at two UK exhibitions this autumn: Nature in Art, Gloucestershire – 21 October to 16 November 2025 (admission charges apply) and Oxo Gallery, Oxo Tower Wharf, London – 19 to 23 November 2025 (free admission).

Proceeds from the 2025 Sketch for Survival auction will support vital conservation initiatives with this year’s project partners, including the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust (Malawi) for pangolin rescue, rehabilitation, and release, the Red Panda Network (Nepal) for wildlife monitoring and reforestation in eastern Nepal, and the Wildlife Guardians Trust (India) for solar-powered pumps to maintain waterholes for wildlife during the dry season, along with support for ForestWatchers.

Sara White, Co-Founder of Explorers Against Extinction, says, “This film captures exactly what we’re fighting to prevent – a world where habitats are eroded by human activity and wildlife exists only as memory, image, or in captivity. But it’s also a reminder that we can make a difference. Every artwork donated, every bid placed, every conversation sparked helps keep wild species where they belong – in the wild.”

To view and bid on the online art auction, visit Online Art Auctions of Wildlife Art for Charity. For more information about Explorers Against Extinction, visit their website: www.explorersagainstextinction.co.uk and follow them on Instagram @explorersagainstextinction.