Dr George McGavin interview about new BBC series, Monkey Planet!
February 15th, 2014
I had a very special guest interview with entomologist, lecturer writer, presenter and intrepid explorer Dr George McGavin! Was so excited to be able to speak to him as a huge fan of all his”Lost Land Series,” The Dark and Prehistoric autopsy. I had a bit of a hiccup when calling him via skype, as our sound system wasnt working and we couldn´t hear him! Thankfully our station manager saved the day and fixed the problem! We chatted about his two new series coming out soon, one next week about dissection on BBC 4 where we can “get up close and personal” with the human body and a very exciting 3 part series on Primates called Monkey planet that he was particularly excited about. He tells me about dissected and the incredibly talented Tom Yendell who paints with his feet and the incredible dexterity of the human hand in climbers. It´s rather good timing too as in animal physiology class I had to dissect a chicken the day after! I admit, it is pretty gory at first, but when you see how remarkble the internal organs, capilliaries, veins, muscle, bones and brain are, you begin to appreciate how complex life is. For his incredible Monkey Planet series, he travelled to Japan, to the Jigokundani Yaen-Koen monkey park to meet some rather precocious and pampered primatesand then to Thailand to meet another group who become particularly fond of his hair! He takes a look at the remarkable lives of primates (the prosimians and simians). Make sure you tune in to watch Monkey Planet on BBC one airing in April, its got some remarkable behaviour that has never been filmed before which is unbelievably exciting so we will keep everyone in Leeds posted on our website that and your fascinating two part series on Dissection starts next week so make sure you watch it!
Tania Rose Esteban 