I'm proud of my scars'

TV presenter Michaela Strachan on her career, family and life after cancer

- VICKI POWER

When Michaela Strachan was just starting out on TV, she remembers the excitement she felt at meeting a colleague who'd already been presenting TV for a decade.

'When I met Tommy Boyd on Wide Awake Club, he already had 10 years' experience from doing Magpie and I remember thinking, "Wow, imagine having this career for 10 years! That would be amazing!" recalls Michaela, with a laugh. 'And here I am, in my fourth decade and still doing it. I do feel incredibly blessed.'

Michaela has been presenting Springwatch from RSPB Arne in Dorset on week nights alongside Chris Packham. Now 57, she has been a regular fixture on our TV screens for 35 years, presenting The Really Wild Show, Michaela's Wild Challenge, Elephant Diaries, Countryfile and, since 2011, the much-loved 'Watches' Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch.

The best thing about being in her 50s, says Michaela, 'is that I'm no longer embarrassed about what I don't know. I don't come from an academic background and I've always been a little bit apologetic about that, but I've realised, "So what if I don't know who that actress is in that TV show?" She seems very happy in her skin, no doubt due in part to a happy home life. Twenty-odd years ago, Michaela moved to South Africa for love when she met her partner, cameraman Nick Chevallier, a widower with three children, now in their 30s. Michaela and Nick's son, Ollie, was born in 2005.