Favourite TV Wildlife Presenter

[PMG]

Ok finally I've made it to liking Chris Packham (no-no Gill settle down - not like that - he's all yours that way) I mean liking him as in respect........ tonights programme was a no-nonsense cracker - well done to Chris and the team - television at its very very best............

Pauline

[derelict]

I can see there is no stone on AWB that hasn't been turned!

I watch the old Anglia Survival films if I can get up in time!
One of the questions I'd ask is - why are there wildlife presenters at all? Long ago there were the antecedents of Simon King making superb one-off wildlife films which were then given the studio voiceover treatment. And a good thing they did too - there are wildlife films from Africa which are sadly the stuff of history now.

I wonder to what extent the cult of celebrity has brought it about? To me having a conspicuous presenter filling the screen suggests that perhaps the material is not compelling enough to stand up on its own... or rather that someone in the pre-production team doesn't think it is. Frankly it's all getting to be a bit Hollywoody in that natural history programmes cannot even be pitched unless you've got a firm-up from one of the many people mentioned in this thread. Presenters are supposed to facilitate - not star. Theoretically they don't even have to appear on screen.

The other great thing about voiceovers (as the Americans are only too well aware) is that it makes the piece infinitely more marketable on the international market - all you do is change the voice track and occasionally the script (though sometimes this causes problems as with Meerkat Manor.)

Why is David Attenborough pre-eminent? Because he is a one-off. He's been there since the 1950s and headed up the BBC (without being forced out!) What is the chance of any of the other names on here doing that? Also he gets to work on 'budget no object' productions. It's very noticeable in the "Life..." series how infrequently he actually appears...

[deer boy]

I know almost everyone has said David Attenborough, i've seen very little of his stuff, i did see a programme he narrated about badgers that i thought was brilliant.
But i enjoy watching just as much the following people

Johnny Kingdom
Chris Packham
Simon king
Mike Dilger
Bill Oddie
Gordon Buchanan
Charlie Hamilton-James
Kate Humble
Janet Sumner

I only watch wildlife programmes if it's about british wildlife, i very rarely bother watching programmes about wildlife abroad.

I found this link some of you may like
WildFilmHistory - People list


Finally i watched Nature of Britain & thought Alan Titchmarsh did a good job

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by deer boy

I know almost everyone has said David Attenborough, i've seen very little of his stuff, i did see a programme he narrated about badgers that i thought was brilliant.
But i enjoy watching just as much the following people

Johnny Kingdom
Chris Packham
Simon king
Mike Dilger
Bill Oddie
Gordon Buchanan
Charlie Hamilton-James
Kate Humble
Janet Sumner

I only watch wildlife programmes if it's about british wildlife, i very rarely bother watching programmes about wildlife abroad.
I found this link some of you may like
WildFilmHistory - People list


Finally i watched Nature of Britain & thought Alan Titchmarsh did a good job

Im pretty much with you on that as its where my interest lies, however i do watch ANY of the excellent Natural world series but am always a bit more excited if they are native ones...and i enjoyed the Wild China series not because it was china or foreign widlife but for the way they actually mentioned the ecology of things which doesnt get much of a look in normally.

[Jim Ford]

Christine Bleakley.

Ok, Ok, so she doesn't do wildlife as such _yet_ - but one can dream!
;^)

Jim

[PMG]

Anyone been watching Big Cat Diaries? We've followed it with interest, but patchily cos of work rotas, over the 6 or 7 years its been going. At one time we couldn't bring ourselves to watch animals killing and eating others - but we now frankly cheer them on whilst still feeling sorry for the gazelles losing their fawns, yet it is obvious esp with the cheetah just how precarious their start in life is and how much they need their mother to be a good hunter and not get hurt or ill.

Anyway I digress the thing which struck me and I wondered if anyone else had spotted it - was that during the darkness filming this last week with the infra red cameras a whispering Simon King has sounded and looked very like the great Sir David and it made me smile - that similarity I don't think Simon is doing it knowingly - I think its just something that hes absorbed over time and its now coming out in his presentation I've gone from disliking him to tolerating to actually enjoying seeing him and hearing him talk (I must be mellowing )

Pauline