Autumnwatch: Chris Packham opens the 2022 series

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Chris Packham is best known for fronting shows on the BBC such as Winterwatch and Springwatch and has been a familiar face on TV for many decades. However, the 61-year-old is now taking some time off as he’s trying his hand at a more creative activity.

With Chris’ latest Winterwatch series starting earlier this month, it looks as though the wildlife show could be the last time fans see the BBC host for a while.

The long-running presenter has cancelled all TV work for three months as he’ll be focusing his attention elsewhere.

Chris will be trying his hand as an animal sculptor as he’ll be creating sculptures such as snakes, humpback whales and birds.

Wanting a change of scenery, the 61-year-old expressed his excitement at taking a few months off, something that he’s not done in his career.

Speaking to The Mirror, he said: “I’ve never taken three months off work. Never.

“I can barely sleep, I am so excited. I might have to ban Charlotte (his partner) from the studio.”

“I don’t want any interference or disruption, I want to get on with it. 

“It will be good to clear my head and focus on something completely different.”

However, the presenter insists he’s not having a midlife crisis as he joked: “I’m not going to buy a Ferrari and run off with a 20-year-old.”

The career change comes for Chris as he confessed he wants to get off the treadmill and told The Mirror he feels “burnt out” after decades of working on TV.

Chris first delved into wildlife on-screen back in the early 80s when he worked as a camera assistant to filmmaker Stephen Bolwell on A Toad’s Tale.

It wasn’t until three years later that Chris started to become a household name when he joined the BBC children’s show The Really Wild Show, which ran for nearly 10 years.

Since 2009, Chris has co-presented the nature programme Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch which has remained a popular show for many years.

On the three shows, viewers get to see live footage of different wildlife across the UK throughout the year and how animals adapt to the change of environments.

Speaking to Express.co.uk about the variety of content fans get to see, the host admitted it was the audience’s enthusiasm that helps fuel the programmes.

He said: “Our mission is to engage people with UK wildlife and make sure that they understand that it’s interesting, fascinating, beautiful and worthy of looking after.

“They take that on board, you know, and then occasionally we do the more hard-hitting things.

“We just did a thing about bird flu in Autumnwatch which was pretty gruesome really.”

Chris detailed that bird flu had a big negative impact on the wildlife population in 2022 which was featured on the BBC show.

He added: “So yeah, we also point out some of the difficulties that wildlife is facing and hopefully that compels people to want to get out and look after it.”

Winterwatch is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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