…appears to be Martin Hughes-Games. Having apparently gone down an evolutionary dead-end (by being a middle-aged white man) somewhere in between Winterwatch and Springwatch, with his place in the eco-system seemingly having been supplanted by another species (a young black woman), the lesser-spotted MHG staged a heroic comeback at the start of this current Springwatch series, having benefitted from some excellent conservation (i.e. lots of people writing to Radio Times saying it wasn’t fair).
But it may only have been an Indian summer, a last hurrah… From managing to more or less tolerably share the eco-system with the new entrant during the first couple of days of Springwatch, the MHG was soon pushed out of its natural habitat, forced to migrate from Sherbourn first to North Wales – momentarily invading the territory of a hardier beast, a Iolo Williams, down by the sand dunes, before being driven north the following day, to be spotted hanging around a beaver’s dam in Perthshire.
Concerned wildlife experts and media commentators anticipate it can only be a matter of days before this individual, believed the last of his species, will be lured to the uttermost north – somewhere around, say, the Shetlands – by a wily predator (the Springwatch producer) and tricked into hunting for something spurious in a boat drifting further and further out to sea… as the cameras are quietly turned off… and the producer cuts back to the New Springwatch Family at Sherbourne…
I though this was going to be about Andy Cunningham, of Bodger and Badger fame, who just died.
http://www.beyondthejoke.co.uk/content/4040/news-entertainer-andy-cunningham-dies
I call my lad “Badge” as a kind of tribute, all the stuff I have seen about him suggests he was a belting bloke.
Something is going on, Colin, and I don’t like it. The camaraderie is gone amongst the presenters, the new presenter is stilted on camera. Is there an unpopular new producer on board?
Yes, I’m afraid Gillian is struggling – the others have a chemistry between themselves and their repartee is natural, plus they can deal easily with mishaps etc. Gillian just isn’t comfortable with (a) being a live presenter, (b) interacting with the others. Perhaps it’s a little unfair because in part it’s only with experience that such things develop, but I’m disappointed that some box ticker clearly thought ‘demographics… inclusiveness… we need a black woman…’ – with the result that a trio with real TV chemistry and who are good at their jobs are being messed about with.
Yup. My favourite TV presenter as a kid was Derek Griffiths, colour doesn’t come into it.
Or am I being hopelessly naïve?
Says a lot for the dude that, spotting him out of the corner of my eye exactly where I would not expect to see him (Corrie) and not having clocked him for a couple of decades, I spluttered “Holy sh*t, that’s Derek Griffiths!”, interrupting my interlocutor in midflow…
Much the same happened to Simon King. Once he’d been sent to Bass Rock for a week to be Shat On by Gannets*, he took the hint.
*TMFTL
Shat on by gannets, shovelled up by Labour..
Kingy always seemed to be semi detached from the main team:- he’s a one man outdoor film unit and left to pursue his own projects…very much the Steve Hackett figure
True dat. I shouldn’t worry about Kingy; perfectly capable of fucking off on his own to live under a thorn bush for 18 months making a film about dung beetles/scuba diving off the coast of Tierra del Fuego in search of the world’s rarest penguins/scratching a living from seaweed and wortleberries in the Lofoten Islands. I doubt we’ve seen the last of him, thankfully.
Certainly this series has been far less enjoyable from the presenting point of view. We have had a lot of Chris and Michaela being silly without Martin’s affable presence to rein them in. Gillian hasn’t been allowed to be there at the start of the programme to welcome us, until last night when she appeared but didn’t speak. She is certainly extremely knowledgeable but doesn’t seem to be included as part of the team.
It has become the Chris (and Michaela) show, with Martin and Gillian just as supporting cast. And much as I like Chris, he does need someone to keep him in check like Kate used to do.
Bring back Bill Oddie!
(Only joking. Please don’t.)
I think you lot are just making a moan out of nothing. The new woman is fine; she’s just settling in. MH-G probably fancied a bit more of the roaming brief this season, like Iolo. Don’t forget that Chris and Michaela were a double-act for yonks with the RWS. My wife took her primary school class on set with them once, and found them to be a charming pair of grown up kids with masses of enthusiasm; they have an enviable on-screen chemistry that certain other pairings obviously lacked. Springwatch is the best thing on telly.
Those pine martins are fookin boss.
The only other thing I have to say is that I’ve been taking a special interest in the Peregrines this year – largely because we’ve had the Nottingham Trent University streaming cam on 24/7 for nearly two months. Our leccy bills are bankrupting us but… lookit the ickle birdies!!!
https://www4.ntu.ac.uk/sustainability/biodiversity/falcons/index.html
(PS there’s mostly nothing there now besides shit and pigeon offal. It’s like the stage after a GG Allin gig)
One of the young uns keeps coming back. Just sits there for ages. We call it a sentimental journey.
Chris Packham just slipped the phrase ‘Fad Gadget’ into the show. I’ve only been half watching tonight – what others have I missed?
I bet he mentions “some bizarre coincidence” as well…