Chris Packham Set to Deliver BAFTA Television Lecture

Award-winning wildlife and nature broadcaster, conservationist, photographer and writer Chris Packham is set to give the 2020 BAFTA Television Lecture.

BAFTA’s Television Lecture is the highlight of the charity’s year-round program of television industry events and is also open to the public. It is set to take place on January 21 at London’s Barbican Centre. Tickets are available to book from December 20 on BAFTA’s website.

Previous speakers include Jane Featherstone, Armando Iannucci, Lenny Henry, Liz Warner, Lorraine Heggessey, Paul Abbott, Peter Bennett-Jones, Stephen Fry and Tim Hincks. The lecture strives to drive debate around creativity in broadcasting, in line with BAFTA’s charitable mission to bring the very best work in film, games and television to public attention and support the growth of creative talent in the U.K. and internationally.

Packham has presented many acclaimed and popular natural history programs throughout his career spanning over 30 years. His early presenting roles include the multi-BAFTA-winning children’s program The Really Wild Show (1986-95), as well as Nature Detectives (1994-95) and The X Creatures (1998).

More recently, Packham fronted the BBC factual series Springwatch, which was awarded the BAFTA Special Award in 2011. He also embarked on a groundbreaking expedition to the Arctic for BBC Two’s Operation Iceberg (2012), which won the BAFTA for factual series at the 2013 British Academy Television Awards. In 2014, Packham highlighted the mass slaughter of migrating birds with a video and social media campaign titled Malta: Massacre on Migration.

Packham’s other TV credits include Autumnwatch, The Burrowers, Inside the Animal Mind, The Wonder of Animals, Weird Wonders of the World and Blue Planet Live.

Packham said: “I am honored to be asked to deliver the BAFTA Television Lecture. There is no more important time to be asking what more the TV industry can do to inspire behavior change and to protect our natural world, and I’m grateful to BAFTA for the opportunity.”

Hannah Wyatt, chair of BAFTA’s Television Committee, said: “Chris Packham is a highly respected presenter and naturalist and, throughout his career, he has played a pivotal role in increasing the public’s understanding of the natural world through his informative documentaries and campaigning work. We are delighted that he is delivering the BAFTA Television Lecture, where BAFTA aims to provide a platform for debate around excellence in broadcasting.”