Ray Mears Wild Britain - New Series

[Silverback]

You know what mate, I'm with you.

Make that 3.........the production company probably made Ray hurry along in fact it wouldnt surprise me if this wasnt actually filmed by ITV at all....in my limited experience in working with TV and TV news, they do hurry you along and chop the film into something that the viewer wants...and the real thing often looks very different to the edit...In one thing I did they overdubbed my dogs bark with another one !! My pooch speaks on command and it took 2 years to train his spontaneous indication and they went and dubbed it !! Go figure

[Opal]

Think yer barkin' up the wrong tree there, Sapper.

[Silverback]

Think yer barkin' up the wrong tree there, Sapper.

I was more than a bit p'd off to be honest as the final edit and narrative doesn't actually reflect what my pooch actually does - and lets be clear I'm not talking about a Britains got talent dancing dog here either - The fact remains some companies will substitute factual accuracy for 'good telly'

[paulthefish2009]

Not one of rays finest moments,shame.He really needs to stick with the bushcraft stuff,everyone is doing nature programs. Paul

[Humakt]

Well I loved it! And I loved the other Wild Britain series.
However.
I wish it wasn't on ITV and I wish it was on for an hour. By the time you take out the opening titles, end credits, ad break, you've barely got 20 minutes of programme!
I have found the Wild Britain series' to be really inspiring - every episode I've watched has had me yearning to get out watching wildlife. And I'm glad he's focussing on the UK rather than make the lazy choice of going to Africa (or somewhere else exotic) just to dazzle us with lions and elephants and stuff - I can relate to the UK stuff and the things he shows are things that I can realistically expect to do and see.

Am I right in saying that the Eden channel showed each episode as 1 hour? And if they were an hour, are they each half-hour episode as an hour, or two half-hour episodes? Mind you, I can't get that channel, so I'm stuffed. Are the episodes on the DVDs half hour or one hour?

I'm OK with Ray moving on from the narrow definition of bushcraft (for the record, I think that watching nature falls solidly within the wider understanding of the term). To be honest, apart from his original 'Bushcraft' series and 'Wild Food' I don't really enjoy his other programmes (Survival, Extreme Survival and the unutterable boredom that was Northern Wilderness). What would be good is if he could make a TV series based around those 'Campcraft' and 'Woodcraft' books we've all been waiting for. That's make great viewing. But I doubt many production companies would want to invest in such a niche interest. Shame, but you can't blame them.

Sorry, but Wild Britain gets a massive thumbs-up from me. It'd get two if it was on for an hour.

[mr.punch]

Started watching it, seen it all before, got bored and switched it off.

[Martin]

At one point, did he really pretend to sneeze? It was dire, in my opinion.

Not one to stay in for, I'm afraid.

Martin

[fish]

darn , darn , darn! the old uncle ray would have had one of those seals on a camp fire in no time! i for one wont bother with the rest of the series,kids were bitterly disapointed.

[Silverback]

What would be good is if he could make a TV series based around those 'Campcraft' and 'Woodcraft' books we've all been waiting for. That's make great viewing. But I doubt many production companies would want to invest in such a niche interest. Shame, but you can't blame them.

As i have discovered over the last couple of years, not only do you have to sell it to the production company first, but then a channel has to buy it to put on the box/DVD. Sadly the viewing public would obviously rather watch "Im a celeb, big bro dancing, and singing on ice/hot bricks and that kind of cr*p"...one day hopefully discovery/eden/history et al will pick it up

[Ichneumon]

The 'Wild Britain' series have been a bit of an anticlimax. We have come to know Ray for his earlier series which, for me, educated, informed and entertained. This just entertains. I'm not compaining, it's the sort of entertainement I can stomach. It's just not up to the standards of his early programs that had me rivetted to the screen, hanging on every word. It doesn't even score many points as a natural history program, just pretty-pretty natural history eye-candy. Unimpressive, but I'll still watch it every week.