Joanna Page swaps home life for wildlife training as a rescue volunteer in brand new series – Jan 6

Published: December 12, 2024 — Joanna Page, beloved Actress and Presenter, adds another role to her repertoire by training to become a Wildlife Rescue Volunteer in BBC Two’s brand new series: Joanna Page’s Wild Life.

Joanna Page’s Wild Life is coming to BBC Two and iPlayer at 6.30pm on 6 January 2025. The series combines her lifelong passion for wildlife and her infectious personality, as she embarks on her journey to learn what it takes to become a wildlife rescue volunteer. Can she master the three ‘R’s’: Rescue, Rehab and Release?

Knowing our great British wildlife is under threat, Joanna was determined to spend her summer working at Wildlife Aid, one of the UK’s leading wildlife hospitals, learning how she can help. With no special treatment, Joanna first must pass the ‘smell test’, starting with mucky cage and pen cleaning but hoping to progress to animal triage training, helping in the vet room and going out on rescues and releases.

Along the way, Joanna encounters lovestruck hedgehogs, baby badgers, tiny wood mice and fox cubs but will she be professional enough to resist getting too emotionally involved and naming all the animals after her Gavin and Stacey co-stars?

Of course, alongside the adorable wildlife comes the ups and the downs of what it takes to become a fully-fledged volunteer. However, with each tricky rescue and after treating and rehabilitating each wild animal, often with sharp teeth or talons, comes a wonderfully uplifting release back into the wild.

Joanna comments: “I’m so proud of this series and what I was able to achieve. I feel more equipped and excited to welcome wildlife into my own garden and can’t wait for viewers to see a different side to me. It’s also an amazingly educational series, I’m hoping that audiences will be able to go away and create little safe havens in their outdoor spaces for our wonderful wildlife species we have here across the UK”

Helen Munson, Commissioning Editor for Daytime and Early Peak comments: “We’re so excited to be bringing a brand new wildlife series to families across the country. Joanna is the perfect person to get involved in such a tough but rewarding experience and viewers are going to love watching her journey to becoming a fully-fledged wildlife volunteer. What a busy year she’s had!”

Duncan Gray and Antonia Hurford-Jones, the Executive Producers of the series adds: “We were thrilled to have the chance to work with Joanna and the team at the Wildlife Aid Foundation. The series is a really entertaining watch but also makes you think twice about how to interact with the wildlife around us’.

Joanna Page’s Wild Life is commissioned for BBC Two by Head of BBC Daytime and Early Peak, Rob Unsworth, the Commissioning Editor for BBC Daytime is Helen Munson. The series is filmed in Surrey and made by North East based production company Twenty Six 03 with Duncan Gray and Antonia Hurford-Jones Executive Producing.