REVIEW: AN AUDIENCE WITH CHRIS PACKHAM

NUFFIELD THEATRE, SOUTHAMPTON

In a sold-out show, TV presenter, wildlife photographer, and passionate conservationist Chris Packham delivered an engaging, searingly honest, and thought-provoking evening.

Interviewed by fellow-scientist Stephen Moss, and accompanied on the Nuffield stage sofa by surviving twin grey poodle Scratchy – Packham’s incredibly well-behaved and loving little dog – this is a compelling analysis of current scientific issues ranging from badger TB, fracking, and the still-contentious and illegally continuing fox-hunting.

Packham went to school in Southampton, studied Zoology and related sciences at Southampton University, and has now written his first memoir Fingers In The Sparkle Jar, which he spent the interval graciously signing, selling and chatting about to a long line of fans.

Astonishingly, given that Chris Packham performs so confidently and knowledgeably on BBC live TV AutumnWatch and SpringWatch with his endearing co-presenter Michaela Strachan, he revealed that for years he’s suffered crippling autism and Asperger Syndrome, “which are not set in stone.”

At the end of his moving childhood memoir, Chris Packham saves the final words for his deeply loved dogs: “Lastly, there’s the Itch and the Scratch,” he writes, “without whom nothing would mean anything at all. Woof,woof.”

I first met Chris Packham about 20 years ago when he delivered a moving eulogy at the funeral of New Forest wildlife campaigner Eric Ashby. His words touched me then; his personality, grit and determination to fight for injustice and animal rights touch me still.

Brendan McCusker