Favourite TV Wildlife Presenter

[smartie]

On that basis, Dan, I find it hard to decide between Simon King, who clearly knows his stuff, is a skilled cameraman and is excellent for in-depth commentary, and Chris Packham, whose sheer exuberance, enthusiasm and energy is, to my mind, more likely to get the layman off his couch and into the countryside.

[C C]

My children are big on Jeff Corwin. While my wife Steve Erwin. Me..well, i cant think of one, other than David.
Bill Oddie and Alan Titch are my least favourite.

[rlchew]

Definitely David Attenborough .... what can be said that has not already been said.

If Mr A is disqualified because everyone votes for him, my vote would go to Simon King.

If there was a vote for the "Female companion on a wildlife trip" it would be Sanjida O'Connell from BBC Natures Calendar

The vote for "I am not a wildlife presenter" goes to Alan Titchmarsh .... please go back to gardening and leave wildlife to wildlife presenters.

Richard

[Jez]

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

I think the thread should have been called Favourite Wildlife Presenter thats not David Attenborough.....because its pretty much a given that we all...and even non WAB'ers would choose Sir David...but the reality is he is bloomin old and he wont be with us much longer....so who of the new younger set is your fave?...or the most natural to follow Sir David?.....and NO ITS NOT bloomin titmarsh....We need people with serious wildlife/ecology knowledge...and who dont kind of make everything fluffy like titmarsh and Bill Oddie do....i dont want pranks and impressions and johnny norris voices and nonsense ....I grew out of Animal magic by about the age of 7

So still for me its the likes of Chris Packham, Simon King, Nick Baker etc who do the job well.

Johny Norris does what he does with a family of Banobo's, Plug your ears!

[hammock monkey]

i think there's a great bit of middle ground somewhere between ray mears and simon king...maybe andy rouse is the man to fill the gap.
Mears is obviously the bushcraft expert, and i have learnt a lot from his books etc which have enabled me to watch more wildlife and be far more comfy (also learnt to track at his woodland school which is a bit of a life-changer).
His knowledge on the subject of wildlife is obviously the issue, but he seems the type to learn fast - and i suspect it's already quite formidable.

eg, seeing the Mears-meister go out to film the more elusive creatures, snow leopards etc would be pretty neat.

It'll be a sad day when Sir Dave hangs up his headphones though. i dont think anyone will ever really take his place.

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by hammock monkey

i think there's a great bit of middle ground somewhere between ray mears and simon king...maybe andy rouse is the man to fill the gap.
Mears is obviously the bushcraft expert, and i have learnt a lot from his books etc which have enabled me to watch more wildlife and be far more comfy (also learnt to track at his woodland school which is a bit of a life-changer).
His knowledge on the subject of wildlife is obviously the issue, but he seems the type to learn fast - and i suspect it's already quite formidable.

eg, seeing the Mears-meister go out to film the more elusive creatures, snow leopards etc would be pretty neat.

It'll be a sad day when Sir Dave hangs up his headphones though. i dont think anyone will ever really take his place.

Wow i hadnt even considered the Mighty Mears but yes i cant see why he isnt a contender...he seems universaly loved. And i shouldnt think it would take him long to learn more about wildlife as apposed to just the habitat. I also learned recently he lives in my neck of the woods ( literally...no pun intended)
The line you said about him going out "filming" snow leopards i presume you mean in a presenting role as i dont believe his a cameraman like say Simon King?..I know of Andy rouse but i think as yet i have not ever seen him on tv/present?

[Acutipuerilis]

Simon King is extraordinary, and will always have a prominent place, but I can't see him taking over the niche like Attenborough did... in fact, I can't see anyone doing that from the current bunch. I suspect someone totally unexpected will pop up when the inevitable vacancy appears. Of course, we may be expecting too much, and he might just be irreplaceable... we could easily have a long spell with lots of people doing different aspects of nature documentary (King, Packham, Titchmarsh...).

[Zygiella]

Does any one remember Johnny Morris? He did a programme called Animal Magic! Or am I just giving my age away.............!!!

I liked Terry Nutkins but of course David Attenborough is without equal.

I find Bill Oddie rather annoying at times - Kate Humble can't get a word in edgeways! He should have stuck with the Goodies (oops giving my age away again! )

[Jez]

Seeing lady bird lavae going though the transformation stage earlie this year and didn't know at all happened i'd love to see a Attenborough Documentary of the Metamorphisis process of Beetles!

[JP]

Kate Humble hubba hubba lol(Drooooooool) Shes a real cracker. Sir David A and Doc David Bellamy are 2 of my all time hero's
but im sorry now but Nigel Marvin?????? what is this guy on Irritating or what everything about him grates on me his voice his not quite with it looks the things he says, sigh how he gets the capital input into his ideas is beyond me

[Jez]

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Wow i hadnt even considered the Mighty Mears but yes i cant see why he isnt a contender...he seems universaly loved. And i shouldnt think it would take him long to learn more about wildlife as apposed to just the habitat. I also learned recently he lives in my neck of the woods ( literally...no pun intended)
The line you said about him going out "filming" snow leopards i presume you mean in a presenting role as i dont believe his a cameraman like say Simon King?..I know of Andy rouse but i think as yet i have not ever seen him on tv/present?

I'm sure he knows but it's not what he does.

[hammock monkey]

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Wow i hadnt even considered the Mighty Mears but yes i cant see why he isnt a contender...he seems universaly loved. And i shouldnt think it would take him long to learn more about wildlife as apposed to just the habitat. I also learned recently he lives in my neck of the woods ( literally...no pun intended)
The line you said about him going out "filming" snow leopards i presume you mean in a presenting role as i dont believe his a cameraman like say Simon King?..I know of Andy rouse but i think as yet i have not ever seen him on tv/present?

'certainly did mean with his trusty crew, his insight into the terrain and ability to be evocative yet impartial could be a winner.

why isnt Bellamy on telly anymore? i remember the run in with the Auzzie(?) law and the terrible and almost personal slating he received on Ch4 news, but he was always a great enthusiast.

[JP]

He went out of favour and his face didnt fit any more from what ive heard, I still think he is one of the greats Its a real shame he doesnt do more shows " Grapple me Grape nuts!!!!!!" lol

[ron1863]

Originally Posted by jdurbo

David attenborough !!! The best

jen xxx

I concur

[Adam Cheeseman]

By a country mile it is Sir David.

I think the best person to take over his mantle when he retires would be Nick Baker. Chris Packham is OK too.
I've met both David and Nick and how they come across on the screen is how they are in real life. Yes, Nick is that effusive and passionate all the time.

Cheers,

Adam

[almostnormal]

Originally Posted by Adam Cheeseman

By a country mile it is Sir David.

I think the best person to take over his mantle when he retires would be Nick Baker. Chris Packham is OK too.
I've met both David and Nick and how they come across on the screen is how they are in real life. Yes, Nick is that effusive and passionate all the time.

Cheers,

Adam

i agree! i like them both because they aren't at all pretentious, and are clearly passionate about nature and conservation. i love that they get just as excited about bugs as big fluffy things. its cool.

[alanhill]

In the present TV series of 'The Nature of Britain' Chris Packham wins hands down over Alan Titchmarsh. He's clearly a highly informed and dedicated naturalist who gets across his passion for wildlife in a modest and effective way. Alan Titchmarsh, as a previous post has noted, seems obsessed with getting across the idea that Britain has the best wildlife in the world, taking up the theme of his previous series on the geology of Britain, which of course has the best geology in the world. It's a cosy and rather syrupy presentation involving frequent repetitions of the phrase "we in Britain ...", all totally unnecessary. And of course it's all packaged with a book, etc. I groaned when he donned a wetsuit and took to the deep.
And yes, I agree that "whispering" Simon King is pretty good too. Both Packham and King are worthy disciples of The Great Master.

alanhill

[Billy Wobble Dagger]

I watched a great programme on BBC2 yesterday evening about Saba Douglas-Hamilton's favourite clips from her wildlife filming. I hadn't realised how many programmes she had made. The only one I could remember was the short series, two or three programmes with her tracking elephants. But if Sundays programme is anything to go by she has done a lot of quality work. She also appears to be in touch with her surroundings, isn't giggly and although I think she pleasant to look at, it's quite clear that the animals are the stars of the programme. I actually think she would be able to replace Sir David.

BWD

[Lance Morgan]

Johnny Morris good at voices too

[SweetRocket]

My favourite is David Attenborough, shame it's not him presenting Nature of Britain. I do like Alan but he seems to have his fingers in too many pies (when he presented Gardeners World, I don't recall him ever mentioning wildlife much) and sad the BBC didn't pick one of the other excellent wildlife presenters we have such as Chris Packham and Simon King.

[hannahpanda]

David Attenborough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like Nick Baker too

[hammock monkey]

i have to say the anthropomorphism that Bill Oddie constantly returns to drives me away from AutumnWatch completely, it becomes Autumn-unWatchable. And i love pretty much all bbc nature output.
If i was 5yrs old i'd probably love it, but in actual fact the youngsters version of springwatch etc seemed to have a higher quality and more serious content and attempts to find out more about the world we live in, as opposed to just getting the material to compile a beautiful montage in between Bill struggling with a gadget and Kate shaking her head like 'Dad, let me have the remote control!'
As easy on the eye as Kate Humble is, and as funny as Bill was in the Goodies I'm just not interested in their relationship - I just want to see high quality output on the natural world as it happens.
The scenes around them should be the star of the show, not not how Bill is a catankerous of duffer, and how great that is. It almost reduces the Humble(r) to the role of Debbie McGee to Bill's Paul Daniels, where as its obvious she's far more than that, but she doesn't seem to be able to break away from Bill's characterizations...

Giving every animal a name is just unnecessary, it belittles them. Can you imagine Sir David doing anything remotely like that? i cant.

I wouldn't blame the presenters tho ultimately, they do their job as best they can, but the producers have lost the plot if AutumnWatch is supposed to be an 'as it happens' nature series, without a doubt.

maybe i'm getting a tad too serious about a thing on the telly though....

[ron1863]

Davidi Attenborough is without doubt the best but did everyone think that when he first started out?
As soon as we hear his voice we assiciate it with wildlife. I imagine that whoever takes over will have criticism to start with but will eventually become associated with wildlife documentaries.
I didn't originally like Titmarsh but I think he is doing a good job and he has a fairly distinctive voice, which is easy on the ear and he is enthusiastic.
Simon King is excellent as is Nick Baker and Kate Humble is easy on the eye, enthusiastic and gets mucked in.
Bill Oddie to me is a waste of space on live TV but OK when following a script but he tends to mumble and can be difficult to make out and I like Chris Packham but think his pronounciation would rule him out.

[dav56]

David Attenborough is the top man. Followed by both Chris Packham and Nick Baker, they are both so infectiously enthusiastic about all wildlife. Bill Oddie is great at doing scripted telly but terrible on both springwatch and autumnwatch.
Alan Titchmarch should stick with gardening. You could imagine Nick, Chris and Bill going out with their bino's and cameras on their days off, you couldn't say the same for Titchmarch.

[sanderling]

I'd say the top three now are...

Chris Packham, Nick Baker and there's a new one I'm very impressed with, Saba Douglas-Hamilton