Terry NutkinsObituaryTerry Nutkins obituary
Television presenter on The Really Wild Show who inspired children to love natureTerry Nutkins, who has died aged 66 after suffering from leukaemia, used his role as a television presenter to inspire generations of children with a love of nature and wildlife. Along with Chris Packham and Nicola Davies, he was one of the three original presenters of The Really Wild Show, which was launched on BBC1 in January 1986. The trio – and Nutkins in particular – had an anarchic style, attracting large and enthusiastic audiences. During his seven-year stint as a presenter, The Really Wild Show won three Bafta awards for best children's programme.
His television career began more or less by accident. Nutkins was working at London zoo when he met the Animal Magic presenter Johnny Morris who, impressed by Nutkins's easy relationship with the animals in his care, invited him to work on the show in the late 1970s. Nutkins soon became a regular guest, often accompanied by a California sea lion named Gemini, which he had hand-reared when it was a pup. In the early 1980s, Nutkins briefly appeared with Morris as a co-presenter of Animal Magic but by then Morris's trademark style, in which he "spoke the thoughts" of the animals, had become unfashionable, as it was considered wrong to anthropomorphise wild creatures. Animal Magic was finally axed in 1983.
After Morris's death in 1999, Nutkins inherited the bulk of his estate, including a country house in Berkshire. The will was contested both by Morris's family, who had been cut out, and by the RSPCA, who claimed they had been promised a large legacy.
Nutkins was born in London and developed a love of animals during his childhood in Marylebone, when he regularly used to bunk off school to help the keepers at the nearby London zoo, where he worked with elephants at the age of eight. As a teenager he was based in Scotland with the naturalist Gavin Maxwell, author of the bestselling book Ring of Bright Water.
Maxwell became Nutkins's legal guardian. It was while living with him in the remote hamlet of Sandaig, western Scotland, that the young Nutkins was bitten by one of Maxwell's pet otters, losing the tips of two of his fingers as a result. This might have put off many young naturalists from a career with animals altogether, but John Lister-Kaye, who first met Nutkins at Maxwell's home in the early 1960s, recalls a very different reaction: "He treated the injury like a war wound – he would hold his hand up and tell the story to impress people, almost as a badge of honour."
Lister-Kaye also recalls the immediate impact of Nutkins's appearances on children's television. "In those days, TV presenters were rather posh and respectable, yet here was [Nutkins] with bags of bravado, full of off-the-wall ideas, and always controversial."
Later on in his career, Nutkins made some rather bitter criticisms of several television naturalists, including Bill Oddie and David Attenborough, claiming – without any justification – that he knew more about animals than they did. After Nutkins left The Really Wild Show in 1993, his career never again reached the same heights, though he did appear regularly on television. In 2009, he was featured as the animal expert in a BBC3 series, My Life As an Animal, in which volunteers attempted to live as pigs, dogs and horses.
Earlier this year, he had a more conventional role in the BBC's Winterwatch programme. He spoke with knowledge and his characteristic enthusiasm about his beloved otters, and their ability to survive harsh winter weather.
Many of the current generation of wildlife TV presenters, including Ben Fogle and Nick Baker, were hugely inspired by this unique and eccentric figure. As Baker recalls: "We all wanted to keep seals in the bath like Terry did." Fired with enthusiasm by his childhood hero, Baker went on to present The Really Wild Show himself, and appeared on wildlife quiz shows with Nutkins. "He always gave me really good, solid advice – he was never jealous of the younger generation."
Nutkins, who lived in Glenelg, near the Isle of Skye, is survived by his wife, Jackie, eight children and eight grandchildren.
Terence Paul Nutkins, television presenter and naturalist, born 12 August 1946; died 6 September 2012
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