Packham: I’m burnt out and taking a long screen break

CHRIS Packham will be off our screens for three months to recover from feeling ‘burnt out’.

The host of BBC’s Autumnwatch, Winterwatch and Springwatch is taking a break from cameras for the first time in nearly four decades after saying he feels like he has been constantly ‘running on a treadmill’.

The 61- year- old wildlife presenter will use the time to make abstract sculptures of animals.

‘I’m not going to buy a Ferrari and run off with a 20-yearold,’ he told the Daily Mirror as he complained of feeling ‘ burnt out’. ‘ I’ve never taken three months off work. Never. I can barely sleep I am so excited. I might have to ban [partner] Charlotte from the studios.’

Of his art project, Packham, pictured, added: ‘It will be good to clear my head and focus on something completely different.’

The conservationist has had a tough time in recent years. He has received death threats and his property has been attacked. His home was firebombed in autumn 2020.

He said last year that he felt he had been targeted because of his opposition to foxhunting.