Dr George McGavin and Dr Zoe Laughlin set up base camp at one of the UK's biggest sewage works to investigate the revolutionary science finding vital renewable resources and undiscovered life in human waste. Teaming up with world-class scientists, they search for biological entities in sewage with potentially lifesaving medical properties, find out how pee can generate electricity, how gas from poo can fuel a car and how nutrients in waste can help solve the soil crisis. They follow each stage of the sewage treatment process, revealing what the stuff we flush can tell us about how we live today, and the mindboggling biotechnology being harnessed to clean it, making the wastewater safe enough to return to the environment.
After being diagnosed with a rare, deadly form of malignant melanoma, George McGavin embarks on a unique, and deeply personal, journey as he learns about the science behind his treatment.
Oak Tree: Nature's Greatest Survivor. In this landmark new BBC documentary, entomologist George McGavin takes us on a fascinating journey through a year in the life of a 400-year-old oak tree.
We humans are part of an extraordinary family, with hundreds of bizarre and colourful relatives all over the world. Monkey Planet explores the ingenious survival tactics and amazing physical adaptations of our primate family, including strange lemurs, acrobatic monkeys, and enigmatic apes. Spanning the globe, we uncover the secrets of an array of fascinating, flexible primate minds.
This ground-breaking two-part series takes us inside two of the most amazing structures in the natural world: our hands and feet.
Zoologist and explorer George McGavin goes in search of some of the world's most impressive swarms. By getting right to the heart of these natural spectacles, he finds out why swarms are the ultimate solution to surviving against all odds and discovers how unlocking the secrets to how animals swarm could be crucial to understanding our own increasingly crowded lives.
Ant colonies are one of the wonders of nature: complex, organised… and mysterious. This programme reveals the secret, underground world of the ant colony, in a way that’s never been seen before. At its heart is a massive, full-scale ant nest, specially designed and built to allow cameras to see its inner workings. The nest is a new home for a million-strong colony of leafcutter ants from Trinidad. For a month, entomologist Dr George McGavin and leafcutter expert Prof Adam Hart capture every aspect of the life of the colony, using time-lapse cameras, microscopes, microphones and radio tracking technology. The programme explores how these tiny insects can achieve such spectacular feats of collective organisation. It also reveals the workings of one of the most complex and mysterious societies in the natural world – and shows the surprising ways in which ants are helping us solve global problems.
A journey into our evolutionary past, piecing together the bodies of our prehistoric family.
A new perspective on wildlife at night. A team of biologists and specialist camera crew explore the length of South and Central America to find out how animals have adapted to life in the dark.
Documentary following a team of big cat experts and wildlife filmmakers as they embark upon a dramatic expedition searching for tigers hidden in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan.
Born 1954, George C. McGavin FLS FRGS Hon. FSB Hon. FRES is a British entomologist, author, academic, television presenter and explorer.
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