The BBC's Springwatch is returning for a brand new series tonight.
The hugely popular show, which celebrates British spring wildlife, is now a British institution - and it's also celebrating its tenth birthday!
The series began in May 2005 with presenters Bill Oddie (a former Goodie) and Kate Humble (who hosted Top Gear from 1999 to 2000), and it's been on TV every spring since. Now it's Chris Packham, Martin Hughes-Games and Michaela Strachan who host the show.
The first episode of the new series is at 8pm tonight on BBC Two, coming live from the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) Minsmere reserve on the Suffolk coast, as it did last year. It will be on Monday to Thursday for the next three weeks.
Springwatch: is British wildlife the most eccentric in the world?
As Springwatch reaches its 10th birthday, Horatio Clare pays tribute
Happy birthday Springwatch! Martin Hughes-Games, Michaela Strachan and Chris Packham are pack with a brand new series of Springwatch Photo: BBC/Jo Charlesworth
By Horatio Clare
25 May 2015
The Telegraph
2 Comments
Watch live wildlife right now on the Springwatch 2015 website: BBC Two - Springwatch
Happy birthday Springwatch! For a series which began back in May 2005 with two presenters who had the opposite of screen chemistry – Kate Humble often seemed on the verge of smacking Bill Oddie – and whose standard shot is a clutch of bald nestlings gasping for grubs, its decade of success is remarkable, and telling.
Bill Oddie (Photo: Andrew Crowley)
Oddie was replaced by the laconic Chris Packham in 2009 (when producer Martin Hughes-Games also joined the team) and Humble by Michaela Strachan in 2012, but the true stars remained the same.
“Nature writes the script,” the programme claims, frequently, although the world’s most sophisticated broadcaster produces the spectacle. Springwatch 2015, which begins on BBC Two on Monday, bringing almost nightly updates at 8pm for three weeks, aims for ultra-modern spectrum dominance (Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, the spin-off chat show, Springwatch Unsprung, available on the Red Button from 9pm) but its ancestry is classic BBC.
Kate Humble (Andrew Crowley)
New BBC Two idents:
Springwatch caterpillar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Vz1BGfw1MLQ
Springwatch butterfly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=UMdL2Bsz24c
There is something of Blue Peter’s heyday about the unquenchable Strachan and Hughes-Games, a pleasing cross between Mel Gibson and a badger, given to exclaiming “Get out there and enjoy the lovely wildlife!” Hughes-Games once had a pet rook called Claude, which matches him neatly with Packham, whose first kestrel was named Tem.
The giant technical operation, the live element and the subject matter combine to give Springwatch a rare feeling in viewers that we are actually part of the programme, sharing the evident pleasure it gives it makers. As in Gogglebox, we and the presenters are often watching the same clips. Celebrating viewers’ photographs descends from the teatime art show Take Hart, with fratricidal cannibal barn owl chicks in place of “the Gallery”.
Nature provides heroes, victims and villains, often rolling several into one creature. There has been no more compelling male on British television than Monty the osprey.
A typical Monty episode in 2013 saw him clinging to his nest, hoping for a mate. Fetching Seren showed up, but as Monty went fishing for her a titanic female osprey from Rutland thundered over the horizon, the giant Glesni. For two days Monty duelled with Glesni while Seren pined for fish delivery. She gave up. Glesni claimed the nest. A shattered Monty wiped Glesni’s back shyly with a half fish, hauled himself atop her and did one of Springwatch’s signature deeds, the other being slaughter.
The avocet, the symbol of the RSPB, will feature in the upcoming series (Photo: BBC/David Renney)
For the second year running, the show is coming live from the RSPB MInsmere reserve on the Suffolk coast
Undramatic moments are compelling for different reasons – a live shot shows a sodden nesting buzzard, thrilling as a cowpat: how are they going to make this fun?
A puff of shrew’s breath, gannets taking fish underwater, low-status jackdaws attacking a high-end pair’s chicks: even expert naturalists learn from the programme, nature’s variety and unpredictability exceeding all our knowledge.
Part of Springwatch’s charm is its evocation of a vanished Britain in which wild creatures were everywhere. But the programme is laudably matter-of-fact about the destruction and declines surrounding us now. In its appeals and partnerships with conservationists it is on the side of the angels. Only in Britain, with our diversity of habitats, our nature-struck population and our national broadcaster could such a show flourish – and it can only be supposition, but we do seem to have the most eccentric individuals out there in their furs and feathers. This season promises adders, nightjars, pharalobes, slugs and terns. Will any match Monty for charisma? We will have to see.
Springwatch 2015 begins on Monday 25 May, at 8pm on BBC Two
Springwatch: is British wildlife the most eccentric in the world? - Telegraph
The hugely popular show, which celebrates British spring wildlife, is now a British institution - and it's also celebrating its tenth birthday!
The series began in May 2005 with presenters Bill Oddie (a former Goodie) and Kate Humble (who hosted Top Gear from 1999 to 2000), and it's been on TV every spring since. Now it's Chris Packham, Martin Hughes-Games and Michaela Strachan who host the show.
The first episode of the new series is at 8pm tonight on BBC Two, coming live from the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) Minsmere reserve on the Suffolk coast, as it did last year. It will be on Monday to Thursday for the next three weeks.
Springwatch: is British wildlife the most eccentric in the world?
As Springwatch reaches its 10th birthday, Horatio Clare pays tribute
Happy birthday Springwatch! Martin Hughes-Games, Michaela Strachan and Chris Packham are pack with a brand new series of Springwatch Photo: BBC/Jo Charlesworth
By Horatio Clare
25 May 2015
The Telegraph
Watch live wildlife right now on the Springwatch 2015 website: BBC Two - Springwatch
Happy birthday Springwatch! For a series which began back in May 2005 with two presenters who had the opposite of screen chemistry – Kate Humble often seemed on the verge of smacking Bill Oddie – and whose standard shot is a clutch of bald nestlings gasping for grubs, its decade of success is remarkable, and telling.
Bill Oddie (Photo: Andrew Crowley)
Oddie was replaced by the laconic Chris Packham in 2009 (when producer Martin Hughes-Games also joined the team) and Humble by Michaela Strachan in 2012, but the true stars remained the same.
“Nature writes the script,” the programme claims, frequently, although the world’s most sophisticated broadcaster produces the spectacle. Springwatch 2015, which begins on BBC Two on Monday, bringing almost nightly updates at 8pm for three weeks, aims for ultra-modern spectrum dominance (Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, the spin-off chat show, Springwatch Unsprung, available on the Red Button from 9pm) but its ancestry is classic BBC.
Kate Humble (Andrew Crowley)
New BBC Two idents:
Springwatch caterpillar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Vz1BGfw1MLQ
Springwatch butterfly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=UMdL2Bsz24c
There is something of Blue Peter’s heyday about the unquenchable Strachan and Hughes-Games, a pleasing cross between Mel Gibson and a badger, given to exclaiming “Get out there and enjoy the lovely wildlife!” Hughes-Games once had a pet rook called Claude, which matches him neatly with Packham, whose first kestrel was named Tem.
The giant technical operation, the live element and the subject matter combine to give Springwatch a rare feeling in viewers that we are actually part of the programme, sharing the evident pleasure it gives it makers. As in Gogglebox, we and the presenters are often watching the same clips. Celebrating viewers’ photographs descends from the teatime art show Take Hart, with fratricidal cannibal barn owl chicks in place of “the Gallery”.
Nature provides heroes, victims and villains, often rolling several into one creature. There has been no more compelling male on British television than Monty the osprey.
A typical Monty episode in 2013 saw him clinging to his nest, hoping for a mate. Fetching Seren showed up, but as Monty went fishing for her a titanic female osprey from Rutland thundered over the horizon, the giant Glesni. For two days Monty duelled with Glesni while Seren pined for fish delivery. She gave up. Glesni claimed the nest. A shattered Monty wiped Glesni’s back shyly with a half fish, hauled himself atop her and did one of Springwatch’s signature deeds, the other being slaughter.
The avocet, the symbol of the RSPB, will feature in the upcoming series (Photo: BBC/David Renney)
For the second year running, the show is coming live from the RSPB MInsmere reserve on the Suffolk coast
Undramatic moments are compelling for different reasons – a live shot shows a sodden nesting buzzard, thrilling as a cowpat: how are they going to make this fun?
A puff of shrew’s breath, gannets taking fish underwater, low-status jackdaws attacking a high-end pair’s chicks: even expert naturalists learn from the programme, nature’s variety and unpredictability exceeding all our knowledge.
Part of Springwatch’s charm is its evocation of a vanished Britain in which wild creatures were everywhere. But the programme is laudably matter-of-fact about the destruction and declines surrounding us now. In its appeals and partnerships with conservationists it is on the side of the angels. Only in Britain, with our diversity of habitats, our nature-struck population and our national broadcaster could such a show flourish – and it can only be supposition, but we do seem to have the most eccentric individuals out there in their furs and feathers. This season promises adders, nightjars, pharalobes, slugs and terns. Will any match Monty for charisma? We will have to see.
Springwatch 2015 begins on Monday 25 May, at 8pm on BBC Two
Springwatch: is British wildlife the most eccentric in the world? - Telegraph
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