The Really Wild Show
THE REALLY WILD SHOW
Made by: BBC
Shown on: BBC
Years shown: 1985 -present day
When Johnny Morris hung up his zoo-keeper’s uniform, it was time for a new generation of animal-lovers to teach us about the eating habits of the Emperor penguin, and the hunting techniques of the black panther. The Really Wild Show was presented by the balding and ebullient Terry Nutkins (allegedly missing part of a thumb due to an encounter with an otter), Nicola Davies and Chris Packham, who, in the early years, had a ludicrous bleached-blond Mohican haircut. I thought Packham was rather dishy, despite his mild speech impediment, which meant he came out with sentences like, “Look at how the piwana attacks its pwey.”
There were reports by the presenters from different parts of the world (or Chester Zoo), showing you weird and exotic creatures, and they also brought dubious things like snakes and tiger cubs into the studio for the children to pet, and to ask questions about. There were also fact slots with wacky facts about various creatures you’d never heard of, and an opportunity to put the ‘experts’ on the spot about their specialist species. Later on, this developed into a quiz, where the presenters were positioned at the top of a slide which led to a vat of BBC gunge, and if they failed to answer the questions correctly, they were submerged. Actually, this tended to happen even when they were right. Michaela Strachan (formerly of the Wide-Awake Club) joined Terry and Chris in the early nineties, and enjoyed flirtatious banter with a now sensible-haired Packham, before he and Nutkins left and there was no longer any reason to watch. The major accomplishment of The Really Wild Show has to be that it made natural history and environmental issues interesting for those without Friends of the Earth membership or a season ticket to London Zoo - it was watchable, fast-paced, and you felt that you weren’t being short-changed because the presenters really did know what they were talking about.
(Thanks to www.worldofowls.com for the borrowed pic)
posted by Holly @ 1:27 PM
2 Comments:
I saw Terry Nutkins in my local Aldi a while back. Good bloke.
Can any one help me trying to get a copy of really wild show when they were at Bedford Russell Park around 86 and 87 if it helps the audience were from Castle Lower School they asked us to be in the audience be grateful anyone who could help
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