Inside the lifetime of Springwatch star Michaela Strachan

Springwatch star Michaela Strachan is one of the UK’s most beloved wildlife presenters. 

The 58-year-old has become a familiar face for Britons after appearing on a whole host of programmes alongside Springwatch – these include Countryfile, Wildlife Rescue, The Really Wild Show, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch.

Most recently the television star was one of the seven celebrities who took part in the BBC Two reality show Pilgrimage, which saw her take a personal journey along the North Wales Pilgrim’s Way.

Michaela has also had a turbulent life away from the cameras, opening up in March about her ‘shocker’ of a year after three devastating losses and a battle with breast cancer.

Here, MailOnline looks at the life of the wildlife presenter, from a little-known career change to relocating to Cape Town, ahead of Springwatch’s return on Monday 27 May…

What is Michaela Strachan’s surprising career history?

Michaela is best known for presenting the UK’s most-loved wildlife programmes, with a huge fondness and enthusiasm for the animal species.

However, most people won’t know that television is not how her showbiz career began.

The presenter actually had a brief but successful music career under the name ‘Michaela’.

She released two UK hit singles – a cover of Edwin Starr’s H.A.P.P.Y. Radio which was number 62 in 1989, and Take Good Care of My Heart, which peaked at number 66 in 1990.

Michaela’s first presenting job was on the children’s morning TV programme The Wide Awake Club, which she fronted from 1986 alongside Timmy Mallett and Tommy Boyd.

She continued her career in kids TV by appearing on Wacaday and Michaela on Sunday, before kickstarting her passion of the outdoors and animals on OWL TV between 1989 and 1992.

The star moved from ITV to the BBC in 1992 to present The Really Wild Show – a children’s wildlife programme that she went on to host for 15 years.

On her website, Michaela gushed: ‘I absolutely loved working on the series and got to travel all over the world. 

‘In fact I managed to tick off all seven continents in six months one year. Towards the end of the RWS, my role was presenting animal issues, anything from shark finning to the bushmeat trade to circus animals.’

She went on to present a series of other animal-themed programmes, such as Wildlife Rescue, Orangutan Rescue, and Elephant Diaries.

Her career went up a notch when she joined the Countryfile team in 1999, which she remained in for 10 years. 

From Michaela’s Zoo Babies to Michaela’s Animal Road Trip, the animal enthusiast became a household name who pooped up on TV screens fronting a host of different shows.

Michaela joined the BBC Two Springwatch, Autumnwatch, and Winterwatch team in 2011 with Chris Packham and Martin Hughes-Games.

Martin left the presenting trio in 2018 and the core team is now made up of Michaela, Chris, Iolo Williams, Gillian Burke and Megan McCubbin, with a new series kicking off on May 27.

When did Michaela Strachan relocate to South Africa?  

Unlike her Springwatch costars, Michaela does not reside in the UK and actually relocated to Cape Town, South Africa back in 2002.

She moved her life more than 8,5000 miles away alongside her husband and children and hasn’t looked back since.

The star lives in the coastal town of Hout Bay with her partner Nick Chevallier who is a cameraman and producer, her son Ollie, her three stepchildren, Jade, Tom, and Sam, and the family’s dog Rio.

She recently made headlines for revealing she only showers twice a week, rarely washes her hands and once ended up with a worm under her skin after eating a sandwich with grubby fingers. 

The TV personality has since adopted a casual attitude towards personal hygiene since making the big move.

Appearing on Loose Women in April – filmed at The Eden Project to mark Earth Day – Michaela admitted her laissez-faire approach to cleanliness came from the need to conserve water while living in South Africa during a drought.

Asked if she considered herself a ‘nature girl’ because of her rugged surroundings, she said: ‘I think, if you’ve got kids, if they come home really dirty, you know they’ve had a good day. 

I’m not the sort of mother that looks at a child and thinks, ‘Oh get them washed.’ It’s like no, you’ve had a great day, you’ve got down, you’ve got dirty, brilliant.’

Strachan also admitted she’s not fussy about basic hygiene, adding: ‘I’m not fastidious about washing hands and things, I think we’re way too clean, all of us.

‘I went through a country with major, major droughts, and we so we learned to only have a shower every three days.’

Michaela opened up in March about the ‘shocker’ of year she had, after experiencing three devastating losses and a battle with breast cancer.

She was diagnosed at the beginning of 2014 after a routine mammogram, but went on to make a full recovery after a double mastectomy which was followed by reconstructive surgery. 

The presenter told The Mail On Sunday at the time: ‘I couldn’t get my head around the fact that on Monday morning I’d been apparently healthy, by Tuesday I had cancer, and by Wednesday I was talking about a double mastectomy.’

She went onto have reconstructive surgery and has worked as an ambassador for the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, stressing the importance of having regular mammograms.

Michaela also struggled with grief after losing her sister-in-law to cancer. On top of this, one of her friends lost her son at 35, her partner Nick’s best friend had a heart attack, and one of her close friends died.

Speaking to The Express at the time, Michaela said: ‘These were people our age. I know I’m getting on but I’m 57 – I shouldn’t know this number of people who have died. 

She grew close to former Springwatch producer Lucy Bowden when Lucy was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years after Michaela.

The star recalled: ‘After Lucy’s diagnosis we became very close and I helped her through it, but her cancer came back in 2021. 

‘I was with her three days before she died. We started filming Pilgrimage last September a week after her funeral, so I was grieving.’

What is Michaela Strachan doing now?

As well as continuing to present Springwatch, the outdoorsy television personality most recently appeared on BBC Two’s faith-based series Pilgrimage.

The reality show saw Michaela and six other celebs tackle the Pilgrim’s Way, which links churches honouring early Celtic saints. They travel – on foot and by bus – 220km through Wales’s slate landscape and Snowdonia. 

Speaking about her stint on the programme, she revealed: ‘The point of a pilgrimage is to explore your emotions. 

‘We had conversations on the show that were triggering for me. I found it emotionally challenging and sneaked off a lot on my own. Normally I’d join in with the group, but I had a lot to process.’ 

Michaela was joined on the show by reality star Spencer Matthews, Plebs’ Tom Rosenthal, Traitors contestant and practising Catholic Amanda Lovett, Paddy McGuinness’s ex-wife Christine, stand-up comic Eshaan Akbar, who’s Muslim, and Escape To The Country’s Sonali Shah, who was raised in India’s Jain religion.

Pilgrimage: The Road Through North Wales aired on March 29 on BBC Two and is available to watch on iPlayer now.

BBC Springwatch returns to iPlayer and BBC Two from Monday May 27 for three weeks of live programmes.