I’m restless and need to find new challenges ... I love live TV but it is terrifying!
WITH
her tousled hair, beaming smile and boundless enthusiasm, Kate Humble has been a natural wonder on our screens for two decades now.
From big cats to small birds, tranquil wilderness to violent volcanoes, she’s brought them all to the viewing millions.
Countryfile, Rough Science and Lambing Live are just three of the hit shows with which Kate has been indelibly linked.
For many, though, it was Springwatch and then Autumnwatch which truly secured a place for the effervescent presenter in the nation’s heart.
But Kate, 47, has told iN10 why she had to walk away from the shows which helped make her famous.
“I had been doing them for a long time,” says Kate.
“I loved the shows and I loved working with Chris Packham but I just felt it was time for a change.
“I’m quite a restless person and I need new challenges. “I need to do new things. “Springwatch is an enormously important programme in highlighting our wildlife.
“It needs reinvigorating to keep it fresh and one of the ways of doing that is bringing in new people.
“So I knew that by leaving it would have a fresh lease of life which would be good for it.
“It was a big risk, but it wasn’t done without a lot of thought.
“I’ve been doing a raft of other projects since and I feel very happy.
“With Springwatch you had 12 live programmes and with Autumnwatch maybe eight in a short time. So I suppose people were more aware of you being on screen.
“But I’ve been doing more documentaries that take more time to make for less screen time.”
It’s hardly as if TV bosses have turned their back on Kate. Far from it.
She has reunited with Ben Fogle for a new Animal Park on BBC1 in August to celebrate Longleat’s 50th anniversary.
There’s a forthcoming BBC2 series called Back To The Land, plus she’s been jetting back and forward across the Atlantic for another major project on America’s vast Yellowstone National Park.
And come November she’ll be fronting another of the BBC’s ambitious outside broadcasts.
Arctic Live, running over several days, will see Kate host a series of programmes looking at life in the frozen wilderness and the effect of climate change and man’s encroachment.
Looking back, there’s a definite theme running through Kate’s previous work.
Lambing Live, Volcano Live, Airport Live, Building Cars Live. They’re on top, of course, of the always-live Springwatch and Autumnwatch where things could, and often did, go wrong.
But while there’s obviously more than a passing affection for the buzz of instant telly, Kate has a somewhat surprising confession.
“I love live TV more than anything – but it’s blooming terrifying.
“Every time I do it, when they say in my ear that we’ve got 10 seconds to live I feel like I’m going to be sick.
“But adrenaline is good and I love that immediate connection with people.”
The sheer variety of Kate’s work – and the undoubted affection of viewers – has kept her in demand in a cut-throat business which spits out flavour-of-the-month presenters with ruthless disregard.
“I think I’ve been 20 years on camera, which is an incredibly long time,” she admits.
“I’m lucky I’ve had an extremely long career – you do have to keep shifting so you don’t go out of date.
“You have to keep pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. The day will come when they’ll say ‘thanks very much’ and it’ll all come to an end, but hopefully not yet.
“When it does I’ll think that I’ve had a pretty good innings – but I’ll also miss it like mad.
“There hasn’t been a single time when I’ve been bored filming.
“I love telling stories and when the time comes I’ll hopefully be able to still do that by writing.”
Kate’s already been putting words to the pages of books, not telly scripts, and her latest is Friend For Life.
It’s a look at the relationship between man and his best friend and was inspired by her sheepdog puppy Teg, the latest addition to the canine brood roaming the Welsh farm she shares with telly producer husband Ludo. But although she’s obviously a