FAMILY-LOVING PRESENTER TAKES BIG BEASTS IN STRIDE
Walking With Dinosaurs: The Arena Special
Various dates from July 20
Michaela Strachan has told how family separation would have put paid to her starring in a massive new arena show touring the country.
Walking With Dinosaurs, based on the award-winning BBC TV series, has so far been seen by more than nine million people worldwide.
Michaela, 51, is taking on the role of Huxley the palaeontologist in the UK leg of the £14 million production that will then embark on a European tour.
But exciting though the prospect is, Michaela says husband Nick and their 12-year-old son Ollie have to come first.
“I live in Cape Town in South Africa and it’s a fair old chunk of time away from home,” Michaela told in10. “So, Nick and Ollie are going to come over for some of it rather than me trying to get home.
“Before I said yes to it, it really had to be a family decision. They had to commit to coming along and it was definitely a deal breaker.
“I have to weigh up any job I’m offered as to how it affects my personal life.
“I’ve only got one son and family absolutely has to be considered. Unfortunately, South Africa holidays don’t coincide with the UK, so they can’t come along for the whole tour.
“They’ll be along for the rehearsals which are quite boring to sit through, but they’ll do their own thing during the day and we’ll meet up in the evenings and on days off.”
The tour opens at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle on July 20 and is at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on August 25 and 27.
The show was launched in Sydney back in 2007 and this version has updated the life-size dinosaurs in light of what has been discovered about them in the intervening years.
Nine species are represented including, of course, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The largest creature – the show took a team of 50 a year to build – is a Brachiosaurus, which is 11 metres tall and 15 metres from nose to tail.
“I’m certainly not an expert on dinosaurs,” admits Michaela. “Like most people, I know a bit and am a bit rusty on the rest.
“By the time I’ve learned the script I’ll know an awful lot more. As the palaeontologist, I’ll be interacting with the dinosaurs and I just thought it was exciting to be asked to do something this big and with such spectacle.”
Michaela says she wasn’t fazed by the acting elements of her role as she starred in musicals before going into TV and has since played all sorts of roles in 18 pantomimes. And doing the live TV of the Autumnwatch and Springwatch series to three million viewers means performing in front of big arena doesn’t concern her.
Michaela insists she’s as happy as ever with the BBC’S popular nature programmes. “The last Autumwatch series seemed to go down very well and we did some serious items on plastic pollution and a report on how we’ve lost 75% of insect biomass.
“And Springwatch last year was great because we had so many birds of prey and the viewing figures were the highest of the last five years.
“That may have been partly because the General Election was on and the Grenfell Tower tragedy had just happened and people just wanted something nice to watch.”
Michaela and long-time pal Chris Packham were hosting as usual and their contrasting personalities seem to gel perfectly on screen.
“I sometimes think I’m like Hermione from Harry Potter in the team,” laughs Michaela.
“I’m always the first there. The difference between Chris and myself is that he has so much knowledge in his head that he could probably get through a show without doing any work before.”
Although she’s facing another busy year, Michaela says she’s does get down time and loves nothing more than long walks in the mountains near her Cape Town home with her dog Rio.
■ For ticket information, see dinosaurlive.com