Chris Packham has said wildlife TV needs to up its game now that we are in a “climate and environment emergency”.
The presenter, 58, said viewers need to know that wildlife must be protected if we want to continue to enjoy it.
Speaking at the TV Choice Awards, he said: “I think TV for a long time, wildlife TV, has been trying to engage people so they develop a deep rooted affinity for that subject. Basically they love it.
“We show them the very best of it, we show the most fascinating, the most extraordinary, but now it needs to up its game.
“We are in a climate and environment emergency, so I think now people have an appetite for more hard-hitting environmental TV, we’ve got to start giving them the truth, giving them the message, and the message is simple – you want to continue to enjoy watching great wildlife on TV, we need great wildlife.
“That means people have got to look after it and we need to tell them that.”
He went on: “We are taking a more hard-hitting approach, so in the last few years I’ve made a couple of programmes about the problems we have with palm oil, I’m making a programme at the moment with the BBC about the growth of the human population and the potential impact that will have on the planet and its environment.
“So I think that broadcasters are stepping up to that plate.
“Is there more that I would like to do?
“Well of course there is, because outside of TV I’m a campaigner and I know that I have a limited amount of time to make a difference so I’m working as hard as I can.”
