The Badger

In the third of her Essays which explore our responses to creatures in our landscape, the poet and writer Ruth Padel turns her attention to the badger. In children's stories the badger is usually a source of wisdom and has connections with morality- think of "The Wind in the Willows" and Narnia. Badgers have also acquired an extra mystery by emerging at night. But in reality they provoke mixed reactions, with some people wanting to hunt them for sport and some farmers demanding the right to cull them to stop TB transmission to cattle. Drawing on history, literature and science, Ruth explores how our attitudes to badgers have been shaped through the centuries.

Producer: Emma Kingsley.