Keith Arthur’s
views on the news
RIVER Monsters has become a genuine monster of its own. So, after a phenomenal run the host, our very own Jeremy Wade, has decided he’s gone as far with it as he can, and that the next series – still to be shown – will be his last.
The programme has a massive audience around the world and is huge in the USA... so much so that another network has set up its own, less good, version.
River Monsters actually followed on from Jungle Hooks but, as the late Frank Mundus found when he tried to get Americans shark fishing, put ‘monster’ in the title and people just go for it.
During the programme Jeremy has managed to make some species of fish far more threatening than they really are, but his job was to test the legends, not make them.
It is difficult for me to think of Jeremy – who is an extremely affable, pleasant man and an excellent guest on Tight Lines – as anything other than an angling adventurer.
I do wonder what adventures there are now left for him.
I’m sure TV will miss him, but perhaps it’s time for Jeremy to do some fishing for himself. It’s something I’ve not really come to terms with since Tight Lines finished, but that was 52 weeks a year rather than a finite series.
Whatever, I sincerely wish Jeremy all the very best... and thank you.