The Ocean Vet series due to hit some of the world’s top networks next year is “just the beginning” according to the show’s Choy Aming.

Mr Aming was speaking at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute where he and his team screened excerpts from the first seven episodes.

It was the first time Mr Aming had made a public speech on Ocean Vet since his close friend and the show’s central character, Neil Burnie, died in free diving accident last November.

Mr Aming told a packed audience: “It looks as if our journey will continue after Ocean Vet. We are going to take the legacy that Neil started on to a whole other level and we are embarking on an even more ambitious project.

“It is in the early stages but it looks even bigger than the first series and will involve some of the most famous people in and on the ocean as well as the most cutting edge technology on the planet.

“It is going to have some international elements to it but it is going to be based in Bermuda. The piece of technology that we are going to be using once we get it here it is not the type of thing you can move around easily. We can’t really say more than that.”

The project will involve gassProductions — the production company that put together the series and will have it distributed to the likes of National Geographic and The Discovery Channel.

Introducing the screenings last Thursday evening, Mr Aming first tackled the “elephant in the room”, that of Dr Burnie’s tragic death.

He said: “Obviously, the personal loss of Neil was the hardest part but it seemed particularly difficult because we were all on the home stretch of an intertwined dream.

“We had just completed the biggest project that any of us had ever attempted and we successfully pulled it off.

“After a mourning period, and what I thought was the best funeral ever, we regrouped and pushed on to get the project done. We were left with hours of Neil at his absolute best doing what he loved for the world to see.

“After several chats with the guys we knew we were no longer making a TV series but the incredible legacy of our friend. I think this was the best way to capture Neil in his true spirit to keep his passion alive and use it to inspire the world.”