Chris Packham quizzed in my first on-air appearance on the BBC News channel
19 March 2024
With Neurodiversity Celebration Week under way, today, I appeared on the BBC News channel for the first time quizzing naturalist Chris Packham.
Broadcast domestically and globally, my interview with Packham, shot at his home in the New Forest, explored the success of hit BBC series Inside Our Autistic Minds and the importance of neurodiversity for society.
In a rare conversation between two autistic people on mainstream news, I asked Chris about the impact of Inside Our Autistic Minds on the neurodivergent community, having worked myself on the series as an assistant producer.
In a clip published across social media, Chris said "You can't argue that neurodiverse people haven't been shaping civilisation. There's an expression 'oh, that person sees out outside the box', I don't see a box. In a time of crisis, whether it's climate, biodiversity, cost of living, we need people who don't see boxes."
The on-air interview for the BBC News channel preceded a live appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live in which presenters Tony Livesey and Clare McDonnell probed Chris and I on our autistic experiences and the award-winning two-part BBC series, which has recently been re-commissioned.
It was a real honour to be able to interview Chris. He's been incredibly supportive of my career and to make my first appearance on BBC News with him was rather surreal. I'd like to think the neurodivergent community saw this wide-ranging interview as a challenge to stereotypes around neurological differences.
You can watch a clip of my interview with Chris on the BBC News channel by clicking here and listen to us on BBC Radio 5 Live by clicking here and navigating to 38:00 in the programme.