Interview with Matt Baker
Matt Baker discusses the live event of summer 2015 - Wild Alaska Live.
Published: 18 July 2017
We have the finest minds in natural history and the NHU working on this... there’s so much that goes into this and the technical side is mind-boggling
Where will you be based whilst out in Alaska?
Tongass National Forest, the world’s largest temperate rainforest, and it will be the hub of the whole Alaska Live. Meanwhile Liz is 800 miles away and in one of the most remote places on Earth around the gulf of Alaska. Hopefully we’ll get reception!
You’re a seasoned professional when it comes to live shows - have you ever done anything like this?
Having covered the Olympics, The One Show and Countryfile, Big Blue Live, that show encompassed everything I love about television and brought everything together.
If you think of the age range watching, it's the best kind of family entertainment that you can have. Big Blue Live became appointment to view - you could witness the pace of life and nature on the other side of the world as you sat there. That’s the magic of that kind of entertainment, you’re learning no matter what age you are.
Is the family aspect important to you?
A lot of what I do has family in mind, from The One Show, which is on at bedtime for some people, and the first thing others see when they get home at night, to Countryfile, which is all about watching passionate people do what they do for a certain reason.
What are you most excited about?
We have the finest minds working on this in natural history and in the NHU, and of course including my fellow presenters. Together our aim is to deliver an incredible hour of live television. There’s so much work that goes into this and the technical side is mind-boggling, from filming in helicopters, to filming underwater with orcas and whales at the same time, then cutting to Steve who’ll be up on the side of a glacier and Liz will be there with these enormous brown bears. And with that wealth of knowledge, it's even better!
From BBC One and the makers of Big Blue Live, the Bafta award-winning live event of summer 2015, comes an even bigger and even wilder event - Wild Alaska Live.
This July, viewers will be taken on a live adventure as the crew broadcasts from across the vast wildernesses of Alaska, to see some of the world’s most captivating animals in one of the greatest natural spectacles in the world - the Alaskan summer feast.
Steve Backshall, Matt Baker and Liz Bonnin will be broadcasting here live at the most crucial time of year for Alaskan wildlife - the annual salmon run. Three hundred million salmon arrive for one of the most spectacular animal migrations on the planet. It triggers a remarkable summer feast that showcases some of Alaska’s most captivating animals: black bears, brown bears, Kodiak bears, orca, salmon sharks and wolves. They are joined by humpback whales, beavers, walrus, moose and many others, all gathering for a summer feast like no other.
Made by BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit and co-produced by PBS, Wild Alaska Live, a major three-part live television event, will be a thrilling celebration of one of the biggest conservation success stories on the planet.
Alaska has some of the biggest areas of protected wild open spaces left on Earth. Most of the USA’s brown bears are in Alaska, there are more wolves here than almost anywhere else in the world and there are strong orca populations. Every animal we will encounter is part of this inspirational story.
EM
