Cover Story
Springwatch presenter Michaela Strachan on staying grounded, living abroad and her ever-changing passions
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A rosy-cheeked Michaela Strachan breezes into our shoot location house after catching two trains, riding the London Underground and walking a mile on foot. But forgoing a taxi was not just about being environmentally mindful.
‘There’s nothing worse than being stuck in a car in a traffic jam,’ says Michaela, 56, gratefully accepting a mug of steaming tea. ‘I’d rather travel for longer on public transport and keep moving forwards.’
And 35 years after her 1986 television debut on ITV’s Wide Awake Club, the wheels of her career also continue to roll. A regular fixture on BBC Two’s Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch – known collectively as The Watches – Michaela has sewn herself into the fabric of British wildlife programming after presenting CBBC’s The Really Wild Show, where she forged a threedecade-long friendship with co-host Chris Packham, 61.
Although one of the country’s best-loved TV treasures, in South Africa – her home for two decades and where she lives with film-maker partner Nick Chevallier, 62, and their son Ollie, 16 – Michaela happily flies under the radar.
‘Living in South Africa keeps me grounded, but it is almost like having a schizophrenic life,’ says Michaela, who last month wowed on ITV’s All Star Musicals. ‘I was walking around London yesterday and someone came up to say they loved Winterwatch. I must remember that I’m well-known here. I mustn’t go and pee behind a bush!’
There are many glorious things about Michaela but beyond her age-defying looks, sunny effervescence and appreciation for life’s little things (when our shoot moves to the garden, she’s the first to admire an early spring-budding shrub), her reluctance to self-censor is energising at a time when celebrities are frequently called out for speaking their mind.
‘Being in the public eye at the moment is difficult. You have to be so careful, which is dangerous for the future of democracy and free speech,’ sighs Michaela, who last year found herself in hot water after labelling her quarantine hotel a ‘posh prison’ and criticising the substandard breakfast.
‘People were not getting the point – that it wasn’t value for money. [They] were saying “There are starving people in the world”, and the
