Chris Packham: 'I'd throw myself in front of a T. Rex to be consumed'
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- Chris Packham hosts "Evolution," a five-part BBC programme tracing the evolutionary backstories of five iconic animals back to the last universal common ancestor, using CGI to reconstruct pivotal ancestral creatures
- Packham explains the series builds on lessons from his previous show "Earth" but avoids the classic textbook approach, choosing five animals to carry narrative threads on locomotion, intelligence, feeding, and reproduction
- The show embraces scientific uncertainty — when research groups disagree, the programme presents competing theories rather than asserting a single answer, which Packham says gives "people's imagination somewhere to go"
- Packham argues viewers must move beyond loving nature to actively caring for it, crediting David Attenborough's decades of engagement work but insisting the moment now demands more: "I care about things more if I know more about them"
- Given a time machine, the 65-year-old Packham says he'd travel to the Cretaceous to see what colour T. rex was, adding he'd "throw myself in front of it to be consumed"
- The series includes unexpected research like the finding that swallows choose white feathers for 75% of nest-lining selections because the feathers contain antimicrobial properties that boost hatching and fledging rates
- Evolution premieres 13 July on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer
Why it matters: Packham is openly reframing the purpose of nature broadcasting — moving audiences from passive affection to active stewardship grounded in scientific understanding — at a moment when he says the planet can no longer afford mere appreciation. The CGI-driven, ambiguity-tolerant approach could reset how evolutionary science is dramatized on British television.
