The existing format was right regardless of presenters and Bill Oddie was right for a lot of younger viewers who are not old/wise enough in the ways of the world to know about personality clashes - the kids just want to see the critters and don't much care what is being said and by whom!
That is how to get people interested initially if they arn't already 'nature aware'. I'm not going to go off on a this presenter or that presenter as we've had a thread about this subject before and I suspect people who do not already have an interest in natural life will not be bothered whos presenting - they watch cos its there at a suitable time and it 'catches and draws them in'. And this is where the beeb have made a BIG mistake - or a deliberate action. To lose the opportunity to interest the younger generation 'by default' as it were - is just stupid at a time when we all need to be more aware of the natural world we are destroying just by being here - never mind the thousands of deliberate destructive actions big and small going off every day ....
I can feel a rant stealing in so I had better step of the box ...........
Pauline