The Really Wild Show is a long-running British television show about wildlife, broadcast by the BBC as part of their CBBC service to children. It also runs on Animal Planet in the US.

The Really Wild Show
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of series19
2 (Roadshow)
No. of episodes218
19 (Roadshow)
31 (Special)
Production
Running timeapprox. 25 min.
Original release
NetworkBBC
CBBC
Release21 January 1986 (1986-01-21) –
18 May 2006 (2006-05-18)
Related
Deadly (2009–)

The show was broadcast each year from 21 January 1986. In April 2006 the BBC announced that the show would be axed that summer, and as such the last episode was shown in May 2006, giving the show a run of 20 years.[1]

However, in July 2017, it was announced that the BBC were in talks with Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan to bring the show back.[2]

The theme tune used was extracts taken from the start and end of the track ELLOVEE-EE by Tony Sherman.

Presenters

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Presenters have included:

Table

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Year Main Presenter(s) Co-host
1986 Nicola Davies Terry Nutkins Chris Packham
N/A
1987
1988
1989
1990 Sue Dawson
1991
1992
1993 Howie Watkins Michaela Strachan
1994
1995
1996 Nick Baker
1997 Chris Lambert
1998
1999
2000 Janice Acquah
2001 Dominic Wood
2002 Eils Hewitt
2003
2004 Steve Backshall
2005
2006

Transmission guide

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Series No. of editions Aired
1 7 21 January 1986 – 4 March 1986
2 9 30 December 1986 – 24 February 1987
3 9 5 January 1988 – 1 March 1988
4 10 24 January 1989 – 28 March 1989
5 8 13 February 1990 – 29 March 1990
6 12 8 January 1993 – 2 April 1993
7 12 5 January 1994 – 23 March 1994
8 12 4 January 1995 – 22 March 1995
9 10 4 January 1996 – 21 March 1996
10 13 2 January 1997 – 27 March 1997
11 13 6 January 1998 – 31 March 1998
12 13 5 January 1999 – 30 March 1999
13 11 4 January 2000 – 14 March 2000
14 12 2 January 2001 – 20 March 2001
15 13 5 April 2002 – 2 July 2002
16 12 29 April 2003 – 15 July 2003
17 13 6 April 2004 – 29 July 2004
18 15 3 April 2005 – 3 July 2005
19 15 24 April 2006 – 18 May 2006

The Really Wild Roadshow

Series No. of editions Aired
1 9 29 January 1991 – 26 March 1991
2 10 28 January 1992 – 31 March 1992

Specials

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Entitle Date Synopsis
The Really Wild Dinosaur Show 27 December 1990
South Africa 23 March 1994
Tigers Special 5 April 1999
UK Wild 2000 2 January 2000 From a hot air balloon Michaela encourages children on the UK to track, log and document wildlife, with reports from Nick Baker and Howie Watkins. The introduction sequence was changed from its normal show title to 'UK WILD 2000!'
Primates Special 21 March 2000
Thai Elephant Special 27 March 2001
Antarctica Special 5 April 2002
China Bears Special 2 January 2003
Circus Special 22 July 2003
Reef Special 6 July 2004 Michaela goes to the exotic location of Malaysia where she takes a splash to investigate the coral reefs. As well as finding out what threatens this underwater paradise Michaela goes in search of hammerhead sharks.
Pride Special 27 December 2004 Michaela enjoys exclusive access to the set of Pride, a family film about a group of lions.
Tasmania Special 10 July 2005 Nick travels to Tasmania to check out a mystery disease that is threatening the future of the island's most famous animal, the Tasmanian Devil. He works with wildlife experts and scientists as they investigate the tragedy surrounding this creature and battle to save it from extinction.

Compilations

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  • Wildest Hits 1 – series compilation: 10 editions from 17 April 2000 – 28 April 2000
  • Wildest Hits 2 – series compilation: 10 editions from 9 April 2001 – 20 April 2001

Awards

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The programme has been nominated for several BAFTA awards, and won three:

  • 1987 – Won BAFTA TV Award: Best Children's Programme (Factual)
  • 1988 – Won BAFTA TV Award: Best Children's Programme (Documentary/Educational)
  • 1990 – Won BAFTA TV Award: Best Children's Programme (Documentary/Educational)
  • 1994 – Nominated for BAFTA TV Award: Best Children's Programme (Factual)
  • 2002 – Nominated for BAFTA Children's Award: Best Factual
  • 2003 – Nominated for BAFTA Children's Award: Best Factual

Ratings (CBBC Channel)

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Figures come from BARB[4]

Saturday 2 March 2002– 60,000 (7th most watched on CBBC that week)
Sunday 17 March 2002– 40,000 (9th most watched on CBBC that week)
Saturday 16 March 2002– 30,000 (10th most watched on CBBC that week)
Saturday 4 May 2002– 30,000 (4th most watched on CBBC that week)

References

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  1. ^ "BBC to axe The Really Wild Show". BBC. 3 April 2006.
  2. ^ Reporters, The Telegraph (10 July 2017). "Really Wild Show in talks to return with Michaela Strachan and Chris Packham". The Daily Telegraph.
  3. ^ Originally called Nick Davies
  4. ^ "BARB - Broadcasters Audience Research Board". barb.co.uk.
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