Following the success of Series One, Series Two begins on Friday 27 February with the programme’s team of elite filmmakers returning to Botswana to check in with the same animals that were featured in the 2024 series<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wildlife filmmaker Gordon Buchanan, 53, is one of the presenters. \u201cPeople always ask if I would ever go back and revisit animals I\u2019ve spent time with,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s the great thing about a returning series like Big Cats 24\/7 \u2013 the audience is keen to know what happens next to a particular character. You can find out if that little cub reaches adulthood, and what happens to those big pride males.\u201d <\/p>\n While we wait to be transported back to Africa, Saga Magazine caught up with Gordon about his life and career so far. <\/p>\n \u201cPeople scare me far more than lions\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI’ve spent a long time working with big cats over the years, and they\u2019re big scaredy-cats really. The first time, it\u2019s nerve-wracking and you\u2019re concerned about your safety, but you realise they\u2019re very risk averse. <\/p>\n \u201cLions and tigers have been persecuted by people for tens of thousands of years, so they’re wary of humans. But while cats are cautious, bears are curious. That can put you at risk, especially with polar bears, because they\u2019re at the top of the food chain. A weedy little human being doesn\u2019t concern them. <\/p>\n \u201cOnce, while filming in Svalbard in Norway, we built a see-through Perspex box that we called \u2018the ice cube\u2019. But there was one bear who was cheeky. She was the fattest around, which is a compliment for a bear. We called her \u2018Fat Frieda\u2019. I was in the cube when she showed up, and, instead of hunting seals, she spent a good 40 minutes hunting me, trying to find a weak spot in the box. That clip went viral, and it\u2019s been seen by many millions of people over the years. <\/p>\n \u201cI was outwardly calm, but inwardly terrified. Still, I thought, \u2018Let\u2019s just do my job\u2019: capture the images, tell the story, describe the experience. There\u2019s a real adrenaline surge being in a situation where you’re so close to an animal that could quickly end your life. It\u2019s easy to let panic take over, and that\u2019s when you make mistakes.”<\/p>\n \u201cIn my head, I thought, \u2018What would David Attenborough do?\u2019 Well, he wouldn\u2019t have got himself into that situation in the first place!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe ultimate truth, though, is that people scare me far more than lions, tigers and bears.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI spent several months last year in lion country, but today I\u2019m doing the most dangerous thing I\u2019ve done for a while: driving on the motorway for six hours. That\u2019s genuinely much more dangerous than hanging out with lions in a vehicle with no roof and no doors.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cDavid Attenborough is utterly irreplaceable\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI feel embarrassed when people suggest that I\u2019m the next David Attenborough. It\u2019s like winning the dads’ race at sports day, even though you\u2019re a little out of shape, and then someone coming up and saying: \u2018You could be the next Usain Bolt.\u2019 It\u2019s always a thrill for your name to be in the same sentence as someone so legendary, but those shoes are impossible to fill. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s flattering, but even if I\u2019m still working at the same age as Sir David, he’s utterly irreplaceable. If the Mona Lisa was to go missing from the wall of the Louvre, what would be put in its place? Nothing. It would remain vacant.<\/p>\n “They say not to meet your heroes, but there are exceptions to every rule, and Sir David did not disappoint. He\u2019s got that intellect and wit and status and real enthusiasm. Even after everything he\u2019s seen, he was fascinated by my work. I realised I\u2019d had experiences that even he hasn\u2019t had. While we\u2019ve laboured in the same vineyards, we might not produce the same vintage of wine.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWe discovered the world\u2019s largest species of rat\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cOut of all my BBC series, the Lost Land documentaries were especially remarkable, because we got to find new species of mammal. It was mind-blowing. We discovered the world\u2019s largest species of rat, in the crater of the extinct volcano Mount Bosavi in Papua New Guinea. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was about a metre and a half from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail. I\u2019ve seen some fairly large rats in Glasgow, where I live, but nothing as big as this. It was the size of a King Charles spaniel, with an infinitely longer tail.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cNature was an escape from a turbulent home life\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cGrowing up on the Isle of Mull, I was always building dens and swings, out on boats, climbing trees, getting dirty. It was this amazing playground. I struggled at school, as I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019m dyslexic, which would account for my lack of engagement and my propensity to daydream. <\/p>\n \u201cNature was an escape from a turbulent home life. My folks divorced when I was about three years old, and my mum remarried a really violent man. That was something we were witness to for much of my childhood \u2013 he was around from when I was eight to when I was 15. I feared my mum was going to be killed by this man. It was deeply troubling but never discussed. I ran away to the outdoors as a form of distraction. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve carried that desire to explore into my adult life. I\u2019m just exploring far-flung corners of the wild world instead of local islands and mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n See big cats with Saga<\/p>\n If you want to follow in Gordon’s footsteps and go in search of big cats, Saga has a selection of luxury safari holidays, some of which will give you the chance to spot the Big Five \u2013 lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo<\/p>\n Take me there<\/a><\/p>\n
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\u201cI was essentially a stay-at-home dad\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cJuggling my job and family has sometimes been a struggle. I\u2019ve seen many failed marriages in the wildlife film industry, because people would put their work before their families. I always wanted to be there for my wife and kids, but my career took off just as we had children. <\/p>\n \u201cThankfully, I realised quite quickly that it wasn\u2019t sustainable to be away as much as I was. Back in 2011, I had a bit of a breakdown caused by burnout. I reassessed my work-life balance and, since then, I think I\u2019ve got it as good as it could possibly be. <\/p>\n \u201cI would be away for four months of the year, but for the other eight months I was essentially a stay-at-home dad, while my wife Wendy, now 56, worked full-time (she runs her own TV company). I\u2019ve got a great relationship with my kids, Lola, 22, and Harris, 20. In the early years, Wendy would worry about my safety, but now she trusts that I know what I\u2019m doing.\u201d <\/p>\n The best thing about getting older\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHaving more confidence. At 53, I definitely don\u2019t feel mature. Anyone who knows me well would not call me a grown-up. <\/p>\n \u201cGetting old does not mean you have to grow up.\u201d <\/p>\n Biggest regret <\/p>\n \u201cI wish I\u2019d checked in more often with loved ones. Thirty years ago, mental health wasn\u2019t widely recognised, and there have been times when I didn\u2019t see that people needed some help.\u201d <\/p>\n Most important lesson <\/p>\n \u201cCommunity before career. The people that will pick you up when you fall \u2013 they’re the most important.\u201d <\/p>\n Life-changing moment <\/p>\n \u201cMeeting Ann Gordon, a restaurant owner. One rainy winter night, I knocked on her door to ask for a job in her kitchen, and that changed the course of my life because her husband, Nick, was a wildlife filmmaker who invited me to be his assistant in Sierra Leone. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was pure luck that her house just happened to be on my street \u2013 there were lots of other restaurant owners I could have tried, but she was closest.\u201d <\/p>\n Big Cats 24\/7: Series Two begins on Friday 27 February at 9pm on BBC Two<\/a> and iPlayer.<\/p>\n (Hero image credit: NHU \/ BBC Studios \/ Lindsey Parietti)<\/p>\n![\"Gordon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/gordonbuchananbigcatslion823x630.jpg\")
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\n BBC Studios\/Gordon Buchanan
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\n Gordon Buchanan films the Xudum Pride\u2019s dominant male lion, Madumo
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<\/p>\n![\"Young](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/gordonbuchananbigcatsleopard823x630.jpg\")
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\n BBC Studios
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\n From Big Cats 24\/7 season 1: young female leopard Xudum begins her search for a mate
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![\"Features](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/rebecca-norris.jpg\")