This is something which the people of the UK will be only too familiar with. And it's influence has certainly stretched further than our murky shores...
That's right, Action TV. Starring such likeable characters as Bear Grylls, Bruce Parry, and (my personal hero) Ray Mears, the shows that they present bring us face to face with life and death scenarios. Whether licking poisonous toads, eating raw zebra meat, or constructing an iPod from twigs, leaves and ant poo, with such amazing displays of prowess these men both fascinate and emasculate us at the same time. Half boy scout and half super hero, they demonstrate the most primeval of skills while at the same time sharing with us an immense wealth of knowledge on their particular area of expertise.
For me, the king of Action TV is undoubtedly Ray Mears. With his own brand of humour and disarming nature he demonstrates techniques of arguably the most important skill that we can learn: survival. Whether in the depths of the Amazonian rainforest or stranded on a desert island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Ray teaches us how to stay alive by building efficient shelters from the materials around us, sourcing food and water, and creating fires from seemingly nothing. All the while, however, he remains his modest, charming self, never over-dramatising a situation or making something seem harder than it really is. He makes survival simple.
The same could perhaps not be said of another self-styled survival guru, Bear Grylls. Although coming across as a likeable character, Bear has come under criticism for the way his TV show sometimes portrays events or details inaccurately or in a misleading manner. Some doubts have also been raised as to the veracity of his supposed exploits while in the service of 21 Special Air Service, the reserve regiment of the renowned UK Special Forces. What can't be criticised or doubted, however, is the virtuous nature of the man himself. All of his expeditions and stunts have generated money for various charities, including The Princes Trust, The Duke Of Edinburgh's Award Scheme and The JoLt Trust (of which he is vice-president) that takes disadvantaged and abused kids on expeditions all around the world. He is also Chief Scout of The Scout Association, a organisation with almost 400,000 young members worldwide.
A personality who sometimes slips under the radar is adventurer Bruce Parry. Another ex-soldier (he served as a fitness instructor with the Royal Marines) Bruce is best known for his TV series 'Tribe' in which he lived with indigenous peoples from different areas all around the world. What set Bruce apart from other anthropologists was that during his stay with the tribe members he lived exactly as they did. He dressed as they dressed, he hunted as they hunted and he ate as they ate. He interacted with his hosts on every level and accepted every challenge that he met. In one episode this saw him ingesting frog venom as part of a detox ritual with the Matis tribe of the Brazilian Amazon. In another, he takes mind-altering drugs and, in a particularly memorable show, did what he described as being the most uncomfortable thing he'd ever tried- inverted his penis to join a tribal hunt (cue every bloke watching to subconsciously cover their crotch in a protective gesture...)
There are of course other heroes worthy of mention. The late, great Steve Irwin for example: snake catcher, crocodile hunter, and loving father. He was stabbed in the chest by a sting ray barb while filming for his daughter's wildlife program at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Another antipodean, retired Vietnam War veteran Les Hiddins (AKA the Bush Tucker Man), made his name by driving through the Australian bush and showing people what was good to eat and what would kill them. Steve Irwin had his fair share of critics. Many people thought the way he treated the animals in his shows was overly provocative and unnecessarily risky. One highly publicised stunt involved him taking his 1 month old son into a crocodile enclosure with him while he fed the hungry reptile. What a lot of people don't know, however, is that Steve used the money that his fame had earned him to buy up large tracts of land in Australia, Fiji, Vanuatu, and the USA to be designated conservation areas. In 2001, he was awarded the Centenary Medal for his "service to global conservation and to Australian tourism".
When I started thinking about writing this piece I initially planned to discredit certain presenters whose TV shows may be considered a part of the Action TV genre. Having witnessed some of Ben Fogle's painful attempts at making his shows exciting, I felt I would be just in exposing him as a 'fraud'. His 'Extreme Dreams' series was filled with fabricated scenarios that were painfully transparent and he always seems to be trying too hard to create suspense and drama. Then I looked a little closer. I watched him row 3000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. I read about how while in Peru he contracted a potentially fatal flesh-eating disease that left him confined to his bed for 3 weeks. I look forward to watching him race across the South Pole in the show 'On Thin Ice' to be aired on the BBC later this year. Not such a fraud after all.
There is no doubt that these characters have brought something new to the world of television. In a mixed up world of endless incarnations of reality TV (the UK has just seen the launch of Big Brother 10...), the programs that these pioneers of nature bring us are often both entertaining and informative. Perhaps even inspirational. May they entertain, inform and inspire for many more years to come.
