Tom Hanks has come out as an unexpected cheerleader for the BBC’s Springwatch.
The long-running nature series was previewed on BBC One before Hanks made an appearance on BBC One’s topical talk series The One Show.
After the feed cut away from Springwatch hosts Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan, the Toy Story star interjected.
“Can we just say how great the BBC is?” Hanks said. “You’re not going to get that live every night in the United States.
“That is just something else.”
Viewers shared the clip of Hanks’s reaction on social media, with many approving of his take on the BBC.
“He’s right, you know,” wrote critic and broadcaster Scott Bryan. “British TV every day is some of the best in the world.”
“How lovely to see @tomhanks enjoying the clip for Springwatch on @BBCTheOneShow,” another viewer wrote. “Genuine sweetness!!!”
BBC News’s Michael Gravesande wrote: “Let’s just say it’ll be a complete dereliction of duty if this doesn’t make it’s way into a BBC trail ASAP.”
Others tagged culture secretary Nadine Dorries into the clip, in response to the government’s much-criticised plans for the future of the BBC.
Hanks was appearing on The One Show to promote Elvis, a biopic of Elvis Presley in which he plays Colonel Tom Parker.
