TV viewers in the UK have been witness to all manner of beastly behaviour on screen, thanks to the phenomenon of reality TV. The latest series to grace British television will offer a rather more wholesome take on our animal instincts, however, with a series of favourite celebs endeavouring to save some of the world's endangered species.
In the new ITV programme Extinct a succession of famous faces will plead the case for their chosen creatures, in the hope of winning a cash prize to help protect them. Renowned actress Miranda Richardson has spent time in India, where she got up close and personal with the local elephant population, while Anneka Rice braved the freezing temperatures of the Arctic to meet some polar bears.
Meanwhile, Sadie Frost sweated it out in the jungles of Borneo, where she got up to a little monkey business with the local orang-utans. The producer and designer confessed to feeling very upset after seeing how the flame-furred primates' natural habitat is being destroyed by forest clearance programmes. "Every day vast areas are hacked down to supply the tropical timber trade or burnt to the ground to make way for new palm oil plantations," she revealed. "The organ-utans are dying at a terrifying rate and they cannot reproduce fast enough to sustain their losses."
Thousands of miles away in Asia veteran actor David Suchet, who is best known for his role in Poirot, had an equally fascinating encounter. "China's booming population is encroaching on the bamboo forests that pandas need to survive," explained the actor. "With less than 1,600 left in the wild, we are perilously close to losing the species forever."
Among the other celebs taking part are Pauline Collins, who met the tigers of Nepal, Michael Portillo, who is hoping to save the Hyacinth Macaws of Brazil, and Graeme Le Saux, who paid a visit to the gorillas of Rwanda.
Extinct, which will give viewers the final say on which animal gets the fund, goes to air on Saturday night on ITV 1.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
