Wild UK - Britain is wilder than you think
During the week when Wild Alaska Live brings viewers drama and natural spectacle from the vast Alaskan wilderness, Wild UK will show how our own landscape holds a host of wild secrets.
Published: 17 July 2017
During the week when Wild Alaska Live brings viewers drama and natural spectacle from the vast Alaskan wilderness, Wild UK will show how our own landscape holds a host of wild secrets.
In five programmes stripped across BBC One daytime, zoologist Lucy Cooke and wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson will celebrate some of the UK’s wildest species. Through a series of original films and updated archive films, Wild UK will explore our forests, rivers, mountains, sea and coastal areas, even our cities.
Delving deep into our incredible range of wildlife, Colin and Lucy will share stories from the country’s wildest places and reveal some of Britain’s incredible conservation stories.
Throughout the series, Wild UK will have exclusive access to behind-the-scenes footage from Wild Alaska Live, revealing just what goes into the making of the spectacular wildlife films in the show.
The series
Each day Wild UK will celebrate some of the wildest species from across the British Isles, found in both our remotest locations but also right in the heart of our cities. Some of the themes which the series will explore include:
- Britain’s Wildest Places - the team will bring stories from the UK’s most untouched spaces.
- Long Lost Beasts - a look back at some of the fearsome animals that once roamed the UK landscape... and could do again?
- Making Britain Wilder - a celebration of the incredible conservation efforts going on at the moment to save UK animals on the brink of extinction.
- Surprise Encounters - films about the most unlikely wildlife encounters around the UK.
- Wild Success Stories - remarkable wildlife projects that have saved some of our most precious UK animals.
Some of the stories Wild UK will cover across the series include:
Canal Conservation:
As part of the Making Britain Wilder theme, Lucy Cooke visits a stretch of canal in Staffordshire to witness the conservation work being done by the Canal and River Trust. The results are encouraging as she encounters kingfishers during her daytime barge trip and then hundreds of pipistrelle bats which roost in boxes specially erected in trees along the banks of the canal.
Tales Of The Riverbank
To celebrate one of Britain’s wildest spaces, Colin Stafford-Johnson takes a trip along a stretch of the River Wye. The river is proving to be a great salmon river and the presence of the salmon has brought a wealth of other wildlife to the area.
Soaring Sea Eagles
Lucy travels to the Scottish Island of Mull, on the trail of white tailed or sea eagles. Years of persecution resulted in these magnificent birds of prey becoming nationally extinct in 1918. However since re-introductions started in 1975 their numbers have grown and this is Lucy’s chance to see if she can spot the birds nicknamed ‘flying barn doors’.
Fabulous Farnes
Just off the coast of Northumberland lie the Farne Islands - truly one of the UK’s top wildlife hotspots and a mecca for thousands of sea birds during the summer. Colin visits these islands for the first time and the rich natural habitat turns the trip into a journey of discovery.
The presenters
Lucy Cooke
Film-maker and zoologist Lucy Cooke grew up in the Sussex countryside and was fascinated with nature from an early age. She was inspired by David Attenborough’s Life On Earth series and went on to study zoology, specialising in evolution and animal behaviour. Lucy’s passion for animals has taken her across the world but that hasn’t stopped her interest in the wildlife on her doorstep here in the UK. Lucy has recently been on BBC screens presenting Springwatch and as a team captain on Curious Creatures.
For Wild UK, Lucy will be celebrating some of the incredible conservation efforts helping to make Britain wilder as well as enjoying surprise wildlife encounters around the country.
Colin Stafford-Johnson
Award-winning wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson’s interest in wildlife began at the age of four, when he spent his days out bird watching and catching butterflies.
Colin’s lifelong passion has led to over two decades of wildlife adventures that have taken him all over the world. His camera skills have allowed him to share with viewers amazing natural history stories in both far flung corners of the world and in his own homeland - Ireland.
Now on Wild UK Colin is visiting some of the country’s wildest locations, from Snowdonia to the Farne Islands on a mission to celebrate the amazing wildlife there.
Wild UK will air from Monday 24 July to Friday 28 July, every day at 9.15am on BBC One.
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.
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