Bill's back
Four and a half years ago things were not looking good for Bill Oddie.
The BBC presenter had been dropped from Springwatch, and was suffering from crippling depression which would see him in hospital for a year. The wildlife expert and Goodies comic, was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2009.
Since then he has spoken out about his treatment at the hands of the BBC, claiming he was forced out following an investigation into his behaviour during filming.
When we chatted, though, the 72-year-old national treasure was on fine form. Having partnered with FRONTLINE Spot On to highlight the importance of protecting your pet from ticks and the diseases they carry this autumn – he regales me with his own experience of finding a tick.
‘I remember coming back from a trip to the States, the East Coast, and I was kind of stretching. My wife said, "Good grief what is that?!" I said, "It is me". But she’d noticed there was something underneath my arm and sure enough it proved to be a tick that must have slept across the Atlantic and had not started to burrow its way in but it was going to any minute.
‘Believe me I will never forget it... It was one of the scariest things that had ever happened to me because I had just been reading in one of those outdoor magazines about Lyme disease and about how flipping serious this could be.’
But traumatic tick experiences aside, just how is Bill? Really?
‘I am absolutely fine,’ he says cheerfully. ‘I was talking to my agent about it, and he said you know people still think you are ill?
‘I do not know what to do about it. I am not ill,’ he exclaims, warming to his theme. ‘I am not, I am not!
‘I am all right. I am actually better and safer than I was because I have that side of me more under control.
‘I was in Australia only a few weeks ago. I did five one-person theatre shows, various radio and TV shows and had a whale of a time travelling all over the place. I would not have been able to do that if I wasn’t fine.’
Bill has been remarkably open about his struggles with Bipolar. Reflecting on the period of time in which the illness had him in its grips, before he started taking lithium, he says, ‘At the time you do not really think of it was being as damaging as when you look back and you think, crikey that really nearly did for me.
‘It is terribly dangerous, so I am very, very pleased to say I am just fine.’
Yet, for all his frankness, he is a little wary of being too associated with the disorder.
‘I do not want to become a kind of Professor Bi Polar, but at the same time I know it can help people who think, oh God, nobody feels like me, and they then read that someone like me or Stephen [Fry] does [feel like them].’
And he’s rather scathing of any alleged stigma attached to the suffering of Bipolar.
‘I do not think it does have that stigma now,’ he muses. ‘In fact I would go so far as to say anybody with a bit of a reputation, who wants to get themselves a series on the BBC, if they immediately announce that they have Bipolar, they will probably get their own series!’
Bill recently returned to the BBC for ‘one report on puffins, at 5.45pm on a Sunday’ and was surprised by the interest he generated.
‘The reaction even shocked me, he chuckles. ‘It was like I had the peak spot on a Saturday night live. I am not a frantic tweeter, but I did put on [Twitter] do not hold your breathe... I am only on [TV] for 10 minutes!’
Today, he says he is not one for planning – but he’s still as busy as ever.
‘I sort of made a point a couple of years ago that I would accept any contact from the various organisations/animal charities whatever they were, whatever subject, from bees to baboons to gorillas to anything,’ he explains.
‘It’s a different type of busy. When you are doing a series you are just there all the time, living and breathing it. But now the week can start empty and then four or five things crop up.’
And so from defending the RSPCA (‘Cruelty does not just happen, cruelty is perpetrated by people and those people have to be tracked down and apprehended and prosecuted’) to speaking out against the badger cull (‘There has never been so much evidence against doing something’) it seems Bill is well and truly back.
Bill Oddie is partnering with FRONTLINE Spot On to highlight the importance of protecting your pet from ticks and the diseases they carry this autumn. For more information visit uk.frontline.com
The BBC presenter had been dropped from Springwatch, and was suffering from crippling depression which would see him in hospital for a year. The wildlife expert and Goodies comic, was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2009.
Since then he has spoken out about his treatment at the hands of the BBC, claiming he was forced out following an investigation into his behaviour during filming.
When we chatted, though, the 72-year-old national treasure was on fine form. Having partnered with FRONTLINE Spot On to highlight the importance of protecting your pet from ticks and the diseases they carry this autumn – he regales me with his own experience of finding a tick.
‘I remember coming back from a trip to the States, the East Coast, and I was kind of stretching. My wife said, "Good grief what is that?!" I said, "It is me". But she’d noticed there was something underneath my arm and sure enough it proved to be a tick that must have slept across the Atlantic and had not started to burrow its way in but it was going to any minute.
‘Believe me I will never forget it... It was one of the scariest things that had ever happened to me because I had just been reading in one of those outdoor magazines about Lyme disease and about how flipping serious this could be.’
But traumatic tick experiences aside, just how is Bill? Really?
‘I am absolutely fine,’ he says cheerfully. ‘I was talking to my agent about it, and he said you know people still think you are ill?
‘I do not know what to do about it. I am not ill,’ he exclaims, warming to his theme. ‘I am not, I am not!
‘I am all right. I am actually better and safer than I was because I have that side of me more under control.
‘I was in Australia only a few weeks ago. I did five one-person theatre shows, various radio and TV shows and had a whale of a time travelling all over the place. I would not have been able to do that if I wasn’t fine.’
Bill has been remarkably open about his struggles with Bipolar. Reflecting on the period of time in which the illness had him in its grips, before he started taking lithium, he says, ‘At the time you do not really think of it was being as damaging as when you look back and you think, crikey that really nearly did for me.
‘It is terribly dangerous, so I am very, very pleased to say I am just fine.’
Yet, for all his frankness, he is a little wary of being too associated with the disorder.
‘I do not want to become a kind of Professor Bi Polar, but at the same time I know it can help people who think, oh God, nobody feels like me, and they then read that someone like me or Stephen [Fry] does [feel like them].’
And he’s rather scathing of any alleged stigma attached to the suffering of Bipolar.
‘I do not think it does have that stigma now,’ he muses. ‘In fact I would go so far as to say anybody with a bit of a reputation, who wants to get themselves a series on the BBC, if they immediately announce that they have Bipolar, they will probably get their own series!’
Bill recently returned to the BBC for ‘one report on puffins, at 5.45pm on a Sunday’ and was surprised by the interest he generated.
‘The reaction even shocked me, he chuckles. ‘It was like I had the peak spot on a Saturday night live. I am not a frantic tweeter, but I did put on [Twitter] do not hold your breathe... I am only on [TV] for 10 minutes!’
Today, he says he is not one for planning – but he’s still as busy as ever.
‘I sort of made a point a couple of years ago that I would accept any contact from the various organisations/animal charities whatever they were, whatever subject, from bees to baboons to gorillas to anything,’ he explains.
‘It’s a different type of busy. When you are doing a series you are just there all the time, living and breathing it. But now the week can start empty and then four or five things crop up.’
And so from defending the RSPCA (‘Cruelty does not just happen, cruelty is perpetrated by people and those people have to be tracked down and apprehended and prosecuted’) to speaking out against the badger cull (‘There has never been so much evidence against doing something’) it seems Bill is well and truly back.
Bill Oddie is partnering with FRONTLINE Spot On to highlight the importance of protecting your pet from ticks and the diseases they carry this autumn. For more information visit uk.frontline.com