Chris Packham’s step-daughter Megan McCubbin has landed her most high-profile job yet - as the host of BBC One’s long-running Animal Park.
She is part of a huge revamp for the show which will see her join existing presenters Kate Humble and Ben Fogle.
Bosses are delighted at the new signing not least as they want the show, which has been running since 2000, to appeal to younger fans.
Megan bucks the trend of older natural history presenters as she is only 27 years old.
She told the Mirror that it was “really important” that “younger faces” are represented in BBC’s Natural History programming.
Megan said: “There is not a shortage of young people who know their stuff. This is the thing that’s amazing. I am talking about way younger than me even. I am 27 and I am talking about people pre 10 years old who know their natural history stuff from watching shows like Animal Park and Springwatch.”
She added: “People often discredit young people for not having the knowledge and information but it couldn’t be further from the truth. These generations that are rising up now are more knowledgeable than they ever have been and more willing to take action.
"I think it’s really important that young voices are represented across natural history shows because this is their future in 10 or 20 years time.”
Animal Park follows the lives of keepers and animals at Longleat Safari Park, in Wiltshire.
Originally airing from 2000 to 2009, the series was brought back to celebrate the park's 50th anniversary in 2016.
Megan explained how step-dad Chris was invaluable in her television evolution to what will be her biggest presenting role yet.
She has previously worked on BBC Two's Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch, as well as CBBC and This Morning.
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She says: “He is a fantastic person to learn from so absolutely it helps if a question comes up that I can go to him with. I’d be silly not to. I am very grateful and privileged to have the luxury of having him there and for wildlife TV presenters, it doesn’t get much better than him”
She added: “I don’t think I’d be presenting if I hadn’t met him, not necessarily because I wouldn’t be able to, but probably because I wouldn’t know how things worked.
“One of the things for me coming into it was that I knew how film crews worked, I spent my time growing up around film crews and cameras, I understood how productions happen so I think that was probably a big asset.”
Animal Park returns on Tuesday, 9th August at 9:15am on BBC One. You can also watch the episodes on iPlayer.
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