TV's Michaela Strachan, who is supporting Macmillan's Big Beautiful Walks campaign, tells Gabrielle Fagan about motherhood, being a step-parent and the - often amusing - dangers of her job as a wildlife presenter.

 

Motherhood's full of unexpected challenges for TV wildlife presenter Michaela Strachan - including tube-feeding and bruising bath times.

You see, recently her brood was an unruly gang of penguins which she hand-reared and attempted to clean after they were struck by oil pollution, for a new series - The Great Penguin Rescue due to air on UKTV in November.

Her hands are covered in wounds and scratches inflicted by her flappy charges.

"I put away my 'presenter' hat for that programme and the camera focused on me as a hands-on volunteer. I was allowed to do much more than I thought, from cleaning penguins to feeding chicks abandoned by their parents. At times it was a pretty painful experience," she says with a smile, describing the months she spent trying to help the endangered African species.

"Being a mum to hundreds of penguins was no easy task. Tube-feeding chicks is really tricky and nerve-racking, as if you get it wrong you can kill them, while cleaning up fully-grown penguins is hazardous as they're stressed, vicious and really want to nail you with their beaks!"

The series was filmed in Cape Town, the South African city where Strachan, these days best-known for presenting the BBC's hugely popular Springwatch and Autumnwatch, has settled since falling in love with film-maker, Nick Chevallier, 10 years ago.

When they got together she experienced her own personal parenting challenge, because he was a widower with three children.

The couple have since had another child, Oliver, now eight, and share their beautiful home with Chevallier's children, Jade, 25, and twins, Sam and Tom, 23. Strachan still regularly returns to the UK for work.

"It was amazing how it all evolved. I'd bought a holiday home in Cape Town because working in Africa gets into your blood after a while and you can't seem to leave it," she explains.

"While I was doing up the house I met Nick through a friend, and that was it. Obviously joining a ready-made family could have been a really difficult situation. Fortunately, the children were very accepting of me.

"I've never tried to mother Jade, Tom and Sam. I saw my role when they were younger as just being there when they needed a woman to talk to.

"Of course, there are differences in the way you parent your own child and someone else's, but now they're grown-up and it feels like Nick and I and them are a close-knit team. They adore Ollie and will always step-in and help out when I go away to work, so it's turned out really well."

Just like her step-children, who lost their mother through cancer, Strachan, 47, had her own share of trauma while growing up.

Recently she revealed that in her teens she was anorexic for two years after her father lost his job and her family was plunged into financial crisis. Her parents eventually divorced.

Resolutely positive, down-to-earth and with a breezy, self-deprecating humour, it seems impossible to imagine her succumbing to the life-threatening eating disorder.

"It was a difficult time and a long time ago now. I spoke out to help other people really and to show that you can overcome the illness," she says.

She was fully recovered when her TV career took off in the Eighties, and was appearing in a series of successful shows, including the Wide Awake Club and The Hit Man And Her, but was then beset by a series of stress-related allergy problems.

"I don't know whether my anorexia had affected my immune system but I had real problems when I was 26 with eczema," she says.

"I had it on my arms, ear lobes and, most agonisingly, on the insides of my eyelids. The irritation was so intense I couldn't help rubbing my eyes, but that made them swollen and red and damaged my pupils.

"I also had hair loss in patches due to alopecia and painful psoriatic arthritis which affected joints in one of my hands and feet."

A homeopathic test revealed an allergy to dairy, potatoes and formalin, a chemical found in everything from paint and car fumes to cleaning products. She gave up dairy products and turned to Chinese medicine.

"Chinese herbal medicine was fantastic for me. It turned my health around. Conventional medicine has its place but I really believe in avoiding drugs if possible, as they can often simply treat the symptoms rather than the cause."

She also turned to an alternative healing when her son was extremely ill as a toddler.

"That was an awful, worrying time. He had pneumonia three times and on occasions we had to take him to the doctor so that a tube could be put down his throat and the mucus sucked out of him. It was extremely stressful and frightening," she recalls.

"Finally, a herbalist told me that he might be lacking in protein, which was likely as I was bringing him up vegetarian. Also, he thought that, because I'd experienced the death of my father during my pregnancy, the trauma could have manifested itself on Ollie's lungs.

"In the end, he recovered by the time he was nearly three and has never had any problems since. I generally use homeopathic remedies and I believe that's partly why he's such an incredibly healthy, robust little boy."

Glamorous, petite and blonde - she became a teenagers' pin-up when she presented The Really Wild Show from 1993 to 2006 - Strachan's a keen walker and firm believer in the benefits of outdoor exercise.

It's partly why she's taking part in the Big Beautiful Walk to support Macmillan, (www.macmillan.org.uk/walk) which provides support for people affected by cancer.

"This is a charity dear to my heart because I've had so many friends affected by cancer, and of course Nick's wife died of cancer," she says.

"I hope it will also help inspire people to walk. It's such a shame that Britons seem to be becoming more keen on virtual activity - doing exercises in front of a television - rather than real activity."

While she's conscientious about safeguarding her health, her career over the years - travelling the world focusing on exotic animals - has often exposed her to physical dangers.

"There have been risky moments. I've been bitten by a lemur, they can carry rabies, and once I was mock-charged by a young bull elephant. My reaction when anything really frightening like that happens is to laugh - it's probably hysteria but it's my way of shrugging it off.

"Actually, you're more often in situations where the people are dangerous rather than the wildlife. In Borneo the crew and I were once surrounded by local people holding blowpipes loaded with poisoned darts, as they weren't happy about us rescuing orang-utans. It was quite threatening and uncomfortable."

Fortunately, there are no risks on Autumnwatch - Strachan took over her role on the series from Kate Humble, and she clearly relishes the job.

"The only risks are making faux pas - which we do a lot! On one programme we had beavers, need I say more! Apparently I said during the show, 'We've had lots of live beaver action tonight and some of you have been enjoying it on the internet!' Not quite what I meant, needless to say.

"But being paid to be immersed in the British countryside, which I love, is such a privilege. These days I really believe I have the best of both worlds - I have my family and my life in South Africa and my work in the UK," she says.

"I look back on my life and could never have predicted it would turn out the way it has. Life has taken me to a very good place and I'm extremely lucky and very content."


:: Michaela Strachan is supporting Macmillan's Big Beautiful Walk for Macmillan, also supported by Boots UK. Walks take place until September 15. To find details of walks in your area, visit www.macmillan.org.uk/walk