Having helmed over 40 primetime programmes, her work is wide-ranging, from animal behaviour and wildlife series such as Super Smart Animals and Nature’s Epic Journeys, to hard hitting environmental documentaries such as Meat: A Threat to our Planet? and Drowning in Plastic, which investigated the ocean plastic crisis and successfully raised the level of public debate on the topic. Liz also presented the award-winning Galapagos – a three-part series which saw her join a team of scientists to carry out ground-breaking research and undertake her first submersible dive to 1km beneath the waves, the deepest anyone had gone on the Archipelago.
The four-part BBC2 series Liz Bonnin’s Wild Caribbean (2023) saw Liz return to her Caribbean roots to discover the region’s lesser-known, remarkable wildlife and meet the extraordinary people who are fighting to save it. Prior to that, her BBC1 series Our Changing Planet (2022) documented the fight to save our planet’s most threatened ecosystems over a decade of work and research. In Arctic from Above (Sky Nature, 2023), Liz joined scientists in one of the planet’s last great wildernesses to reveal fresh insights about how Arctic wildlife is faring in the face of climate change. And in Secrets of the Jurassic Dinosaurs for BBC2, Liz travelled to Wyoming to investigate a dinosaur graveyard that is transforming the way we think about the Jurassic.
In addition to her television work, Liz presented What Planet Are We On? for BBC Sounds and Radio 5 Live. The podcast series looked at the impact we are having on our planet and the practical solutions we can adopt to create a more sustainable future. Guests included Sir David Attenborough, Idris Elba and Christiana Figueres. Liz most recently hosted Dead River, a compelling podcast series telling the story of the worst environmental disaster in Brazil’s history and the law firm who took on over 700,000 plaintiffs to bring the largest case of its kind to the UK courts.
Liz regularly speaks at and hosts science, natural history, and environmental events, including The National Science and Engineering Competition, the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards, and New Scientist Live. She was elected the first female president of The Wildlife Trusts in the UK, and was recently awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the British Science Association. She is also frequently invited to speak to the business sector about the systemic transformation needed to create a healthy planet and sustainable future. In 2024 Liz became a National Geographic Explorer and is the recipient of the National Geographic Society’s 2024 Wayfinder Award.
