It was an emotional CHALLENG

Springwatch's Michaela Strachan on her latest TV adventure

-  JORDAN PARAMOR

To say Michaela Strachan has had a tough time over the past few the years would be putting it lightly. After losing both her best friend and sister-in-law in 2023, the presenter’s mother-in-law passed away last month. Despite multiple ‘emotional breakdowns’ Michaela tells Woman why taking part in BBC2’s Pilgrimage was a ‘real gift’ that helped her grieve and reveals what she learnt along the way.

How was it filming Pilgrimage?

It was an amazing thing to do and it was an amazing time for me to do it. Last year was a very sad year, with a lot of heartache, so I needed to process grief and reconnect. Doing something like this gave me that opportunity. There was a lot of loss last year. My sister-inlaw, my best friend, a best friend’s son and an old friend of my partner’s, so there was lots of tragedy. My best friend Lucy lost her fight against breast cancer just before we started filming Pilgrimage and it hit me hard. So, although doing the show was an opportunity to process the loss, it did make it emotionally challenging.

That must have been so traumatic…

At the time, I wondered whether it was the best thing for me to do because I was quite emotional. But I’ve realised that it was the perfect thing for me to do. Normally in life, you grieve and you move on too quickly because your life moves on and you get back into being busy. Having two weeks immersed in beauty and meaningful conversations, and meeting people who had supporting words and were spiritually connected was incredibly thought-provoking, and a real gift.