Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild – Channel 5

Ben, Nikita and Sergey in Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild

(Image credit: Channel 5)

Ben meets a scientist trying to reduce climate change in Siberia in this week’s Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild on Channel 5

Ben travels to northeast Siberia to meet an extraordinary man called Nikita Zimov in this week’s Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild on Channel 5.

A Russian former maths student living in the city, Nikita joined his father, Sergey (both pictured above with Ben), in the remote Russian Arctic to be part of a scientific experiment, named Pleistocene Park, aimed at stopping the permafrost melting due to climate change.

The idea is to return a vast area back into grassland and re-introduce the animals that once roamed there – including the woolly mammoth (it will be possible to grow them in a lab says Nikita).

Sasha, Sergey and Nikita in Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild — Sergey and Nikita Dimov with Nikita’s daughter Sasha in Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild on Channel 5

It sounds like a crazy plan, but there is a lot of science and common sense behind Nikita’s vision of a future for himself and his children.

For full listings, see our TV Guide.

TV Times rating: ***

Joanne Lowles has been writing about TV since 2002. After graduating from Cardiff University with a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism, she worked for All About Soap magazine covering the ups and downs of life on the cobbles, the square and the Dales.

Next came nearly 10 years at TV Times magazine as a writer and then deputy features editor. Here she spent many happy days interviewing the biggest names in entertainment and visiting the sets of some of our most popular shows including Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife and Strictly Come Dancing.

With a love of nature and wildlife she’s also interviewed the leading experts in this area including David Attenborough, Chris Packham and Steve Backshall. She’s also travelled the world visiting Mongolia, Canada and South Africa to see how the best in the business make the most brilliant natural history documentaries.

Freelance since 2013, she is now is a digital writer and editor for What to Watch, previews the best on the box for TV Times mag each week and loves being constantly surprised, entertained and informed by the amazing TV that she is lucky enough to watch.