Chris Packham is getting back to his old tricks of sneaking song titles into Springwatch.
The nature enthusiast, 64, is planning to drop multiple musical references into the live BBC wildlife show when it returns to TV tonight for the 20th anniversary.
Packham will reunite with Michaela Strachan for three weeks of ‘wildlife wonder’ from the National Trust’s Longshaw Estate in the heart of the Peak District, while Iolo Williams will broadcast live from Northern Ireland.
‘When I first started Springwatch I secretly wove the lyrics of The Smiths and then David Bowie and The Clash, The Manic Street Preachers, The Cure into each of the series and then it became almost expected and I got a bit bored with it so I stopped doing it,’ Packham exclusively told MailOnline.
‘However, as it’s the 20th anniversary I thought I’d make an effort on behalf of the fans who always loved it.’
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Chris Packham is getting back to his old tricks of sneaking song titles into Springwatch (pictured with Michaela Strachan)
Packham, a self-proclaimed punk, has delighted armchair naturalists for years, who as well as getting their wildlife fix, have tallied up his pop culture references
The star revealed he was planning to shoehorn five or six song titles by one famous band into the beloved show – but he wants to keep their identity a secret.
Packham, a self-proclaimed punk, has delighted armchair naturalists for years, who as well as getting their wildlife fix, have tallied up his pop culture references.
He revealed he has peppered his broadcasts with 50 Bowie nods and at least 40 to The Clash since first joining the BBC Two show in 2009.
But it’s not just musical references. He decided to challenge himself with Second World War films during Autumnwatch in 2014, successfully managing to shoehorn 1965 movie ‘Von Ryan’s Express’ into his coverage from Leighton Moss.
The previous year he slipped 32 of the most popular British sitcoms into a series of Springwatch.
Packham said he achieved the ‘ultimate triumph’ for a Winterwatch series when he opted for Oscar winning films from 1970 until the present day – one of which was ‘Driving Miss Daisy’.
‘When it came to The Smiths obviously there were some shockers that I did manage to crowbar in by splitting them across a sentence,’ he said. ‘”Vicar in a tutu” wasn’t so bad. I remember contrasting that with the display of the Great Bustard.’
Fans have collated his best bits into videos with many hailing him a ‘legend’ and ‘impressive’.
One such video of his nods to The Smiths sees Packham declaring ‘it really was a case of Bigmouth Strikes Again’ as he narrated a clip of a bird being fed by it’s mother; claiming one guest was ‘Hand in Glove with those badgers’ and deeming one bird a ‘Handsome Devil’.
‘When I first started Springwatch I secretly wove the lyrics of The Smiths and then David Bowie… into each of the series and then it became almost expected and I got a bit bored with it so I stopped doing it,’ Packham exclusively told MailOnline
He continued: ‘However, as it’s the 20th anniversary I thought I’d make an effort on behalf of the fans who always loved it’
Springwatch will broadcast live every Monday to Thursday for the next three weeks, with the final episode airing on Thursday, June 12.
Packham recently complained that UK ‘is going to hell in a handcart’ after the Springwatch budget was slashed – and even branded Britian ‘one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world’.
‘Springwatch will always be needed,’ he told Radio Times. ‘The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and wildlife is going to hell in a handcart.’
Springwatch will air Monday 26 May to Thursday 29 May at 8pm, followed by Monday 2 June to Thursday 5 June and Monday 9 June to Thursday 12 June.
