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00:11Hello there and welcome to your Tuesday One show live on BBC One and I play with Roman
00:15Kent and Alex Jones and tonight we have got a stellar line-up for you as two stars from
00:21the world of science and film collide.
00:23Yes, Ryan Gosling will be here, another Hollywood star best known for his Golden Globe winning
00:28performance in LA Land and of course his portrayal of the iconic Ken in the global smash head
00:36Barbie.
00:36Yeah, don't worry, nobody saw, nobody saw and now Ryan's heading to space in his epic new
00:42sci-fi adventure Project Hail Mary which follows the journey of a teacher turned astronaut who's
00:47reluctantly sent to save the world with only an alien named Rocky for help.
00:52Yeah, if you love E.T. you are going to love Rocky.
00:55And Ryan is joined by someone who knows all about bringing the wonders of the universe
01:00to life, Professor Brian Cox will also be here to tell us how the power of space could change
01:04millions of lives here on Earth.
01:07Yeah, and to mark British Science Week we're celebrating the space scientists of the future
01:11as we meet the students reaching for the stars in a national competition designing and launching
01:16satellites small enough to fit inside a drinks can.
01:20Amazing, and talking of passion projects ahead of his brand new exhibition that opens this
01:25week, Chris Packham shares the stories behind his lifelong love of photography capturing extraordinary
01:31wildlife pictures like these.
01:33Beautiful, lots coming up but first we're staying with the wonders of the natural world and something
01:38that's made a massive comeback recently and that's gold.
01:41And with prices for the precious metals soaring during times of financial uncertainty, presenter
01:47Callum Leslie has been meeting the people who've decided to trade in their treasures.
01:53If you've walked past a jeweller recently you might have noticed queues, not to buy but to sell.
02:01With gold prices hitting record highs and silver rising too, people have been keen to cash in.
02:08Tell us a little bit about what you brought in today.
02:10So I brought in some necklaces and some rings and the necklace was my mum's.
02:14She gave it to me when she passed away actually a few years ago and it was just sitting around
02:18the house.
02:18Obviously I saw the prices of gold spiked so I thought let's just bring it here and see what I
02:23could get from it
02:24and do some really lovely things in the house. It's something better to remember a vibe.
02:27I have some coins from my grandma. So I have some silver coins that are Romanian but also some gold
02:34coins.
02:35And you brought them in to see what they're worth? Yes, and they were super kind. They did a very
02:40quick appraisal.
02:41When financial or political uncertainty rises, investors turn to gold as a safe haven.
02:48As prices surge, opportunities to cash in appear everywhere, from high street cash for gold shops to local jewellers and
02:55online buyers.
02:56Here in Hatton Garden, London's historic jewellery quarter, business has been brisk for gold and silver dealers like Zoe Lyons.
03:04Have you noticed a lot more people coming in with their gold lately?
03:08At the end of last year, 2025, we thought we are in the gold rush. This is it. There's no
03:13more gold left in the UK.
03:15Then January 2026 comes. We've got queues out of the door, round the block.
03:20People wanted to sell, they wanted to buy and it was exciting.
03:24And who do you have coming in? Is it people who have remembered they've got some stuff in the cupboard
03:28upstairs?
03:28We see people from all different walks of life and that will include someone that, as you've said, is looked
03:34in a drawer and they're just so excited to get an extra couple of hundred quid that might help towards
03:39something on their weekly shop or the cost of living at the moment.
03:44Once the gold has been sold, it gets smelted down, which is Adam's job.
03:48Some really beautiful stuff there. There's a ring and a bracelet there that looks, it was incredible.
03:54You get a lot of antique stuff, Victorian stuff, a lot of failed marriages as well.
04:00To think it's gone from that tub of jewellery to that in 20 minutes.
04:07So we think that the value of that, we think is nearly 600 grand?
04:11Yeah, give or take, yeah.
04:14But before you rush down the high street, personal finance journalist Faith Archer says there's things you need to be
04:20aware of.
04:21Given gold prices have risen so high, make sure you don't get ripped off. Treat it seriously.
04:26Have a look at the hallmark because the purity, so nine carat gold is going to be worth a lot
04:30less than, say, 24 carat gold.
04:32And also weigh it if you've got some decent scales so you can get a bit more of an idea
04:38before you approach a jeweller or a bullion dealer.
04:41Gold's yo-yoed wildly this year, soaring to record highs in the 29th of January, then dropping 9% the
04:48next day, its sharpest fall since 1983.
04:51Yet gold prices are still 75% up on last year due to a variety of factors.
04:58Gold has been a safe haven investment for millennia and prices tend to go up in times of uncertainty.
05:04We've had a combination of wars and conflicts. We've got concerns about inflation.
05:08We've got concerns about the strength of the dollar that have had central banks like in China buying up reserves
05:15of gold.
05:15So all these factors have come together to push gold prices up.
05:21For those looking for an investment, there is decent money to be made.
05:25These are the Britannia coins minted by the Royal Mint.
05:29It's what customers tend to invest in because they're exempt from capital gains tax.
05:33The past year or so, we've probably seen an increase of more than double in our sales and our new
05:40customers.
05:41Customers invest to preserve their wealth, to hedge against the economic uncertainty.
05:48And a lot of customers who purchase gold with us is because they feel that they're going to get a
05:52better return
05:53than what they would see in the bank of the interest rates currently.
05:56You do have to be certain once we give you an offer and you accept that offer, there's no turning
06:01back.
06:01That will be melted down if it's jewellery.
06:04We won't be able to reclaim that back for you.
06:07And once it's gone, it's gone.
06:09Whether it's a family heirloom or some forgotten jewellery,
06:14it's been so interesting to see how people are valuing gold in different ways
06:18and how in a cashless world, gold like this seems to be making a comeback.
06:25I've always wanted to hold one of them.
06:27A bar.
06:28However it is.
06:29Anyway, look, thanks so much to Callum for that.
06:32And actually, we have struck gold with our guest tonight.
06:34It's Professor Brian Cox and the Hollywood star behind the new sci-fi blockbuster,
06:38Project Hell, Merit's Ryan Gosling.
06:44I've got to say, this is one of my favourite sofa combinations that we've had in a while.
06:49Yeah, I'm not intimidated at all to be sitting next to talking about space with Brian Cox.
06:54Yeah.
06:55I'm so at ease.
06:56Yeah.
06:57I'm in my element.
06:59In fact, if there's anything you can't answer if you want to throw it my way,
07:01I'm happy to hop in there.
07:04But, Ryan, you've had a busy couple of days.
07:06You had the premiere yesterday and then at the weekend you hosted Saturday Night Live
07:12for the fourth time.
07:13And if it wasn't intimidating enough doing the show tonight next to Brian Cox,
07:17you had to obviously do your monologue in front of Harry Styles.
07:21And he was quite distracting.
07:21Why do I keep putting myself in this situation?
07:23But Harry was quite distracting for you here.
07:27Oh, look at that.
07:29I mean, how much do you love hosting SNL?
07:31Is it a lot of confidence needed on the day?
07:36Come on, guys.
07:36Let's get rid of this blitzkrieg.
07:37Yeah, it's...
07:39When I first hosted, Mike Myers told me...
07:43I'm going to tell you what Gilda Radner told me the first time on my first show,
07:47which is that the show is a monster.
07:49It has to eat every Saturday night.
07:51And tonight it's having you for dinner.
07:53Great.
07:54And that's what it feels like.
07:55No pressure.
07:56All right.
07:56Yeah, you're...
07:57Well, funnily enough, there's one of Harry's songs in your new film,
08:00Project Hail Mary.
08:01So this is based on a best-selling book written by Andy Weir.
08:05Yeah.
08:06And this has really been a passion project for you, hasn't it?
08:09Bringing it to the big screen.
08:11It has.
08:11It's been six years.
08:12Oh, my gosh.
08:13Mm-hmm.
08:14So how did it start in its concept?
08:16So Andy released the book.
08:18Did you like the book or was it before?
08:19It was before it was a book.
08:20He sent me the manuscript without any context.
08:24I just got this 560-page manuscript that I had a weekend to read.
08:31I knew nothing about it.
08:32And I went on this extraordinary journey where you go to another galaxy,
08:38you make an alien best friend, you save the stars.
08:41That all happened.
08:41Somehow you're also reminded of, like, what we're capable of as human beings.
08:45Yeah.
08:45And he gives you this opportunity to sort of pivot from this fear of the future
08:54and maybe see it as something not necessarily to fear but to be figured out.
08:59Yeah.
08:59And I got it at a time when movie theaters were closing
09:03and movie sets were closing.
09:04And so it felt like a Hail Mary in itself, right?
09:07It was like I couldn't even meet with Andy to talk to him about it.
09:10And it was the most ambitious thing I've ever read, probably will ever make.
09:15It seemed impossible.
09:17But it was so inspiring, such a gift.
09:21You know, as if, you know, I would love to, wanted to make a movie for my kids
09:26that could be something that was, like, not animated, made by the best filmmakers in the world,
09:32great filmmaking that was sort of optimistic about the future.
09:37And here was this gift from Andy.
09:40That is it.
09:41And it is fantastic.
09:42We've been lucky enough, both Al and I, to see it already,
09:45in which Ryan plays science school teacher Ryland Grace,
09:49who's tasked with an almost impossible mission to travel into space and save our sun.
09:54And ultimately, the world, the only problem, it's a one-way mission.
09:57And he really doesn't want to go.
09:59Let's take a look.
10:00The sun is dying.
10:02If we do nothing, everything on this planet will go extinct.
10:06I'm not an astronaut.
10:07I get sick on an elevator.
10:10Perfect.
10:10There's no elevator on the ship.
10:13This is Captain Ryland Grace reporting from the Hail Mary.
10:17What is that?
10:21So I have a new roommate now.
10:24I'm going to call you Rocky.
10:25We're here for the same reason.
10:27His son is dying, too.
10:29Rocky!
10:36You said, Ryan, it's something you want young children to enjoy as well,
10:40because it's not just about space.
10:42It is about this friendship that develops between your character
10:45and this really lovable little alien called Rocky.
10:49He doesn't look lovable at the beginning, does he?
10:53Yes.
10:54He's a rock.
10:55He has no face.
10:56He has no face.
10:57No face.
10:58Yeah, he's different.
11:01I mean, it's such an interesting and brilliant concept for an alien.
11:06Andy really thought this through.
11:08Andy really thought through what the biology might be, what its environment might be.
11:13Nothing about it is easy.
11:15It's all hard.
11:15It's hard for them to even be in the same room together and communicate.
11:19And it was like that to shoot.
11:21I mean, because we went with the practical puppet.
11:24You know, it feels wrong calling him a puppet, but he's a practical effect.
11:30And, you know, that was difficult because it's like six puppeteers and everything that comes with that.
11:37So it was hard earned as well just to shoot it.
11:39So the layers of meta-ness on this film are just, I won't bore you with them.
11:43But it was all difficult and couldn't have been more worth it because it feels hard earned and it feels
11:49real.
11:50And I think that's the magic and the secret sauce of the film.
11:53Yeah.
11:53And because it's hard though, little Rocky really has your heart by the end of the film.
11:57Did your own children help you when it came to kind of what your character should look like, what Rocky
12:02should be like?
12:03Well, they helped me with everything.
12:05And I asked them all the time because they just have great taste and great opinions.
12:10And even when I was trying on looks for the character, I thought it was cliche to wear glasses to
12:15look smarter.
12:16And then my daughter came by, she was like, you do look smarter in glasses.
12:21And I was like, then I'll wear glasses.
12:23Thank you very much.
12:26And then one day they came to set and they basically spoke as Rocky for me and we did scenes
12:32together.
12:33And those scenes are in the movie.
12:35You can tell just because I'm so charmed by Rocky in that moment.
12:41And, you know, I made the film for them and they've seen many cuts.
12:45And it's really this film has become like a family business.
12:48It's like the girls and Ava have been so involved and it's exciting to be at this stage finally.
12:55Well, I mean, you know, Ryland obviously faces that that task of being the scientist to go up there on
13:01this one way mission that we talk about.
13:03I mean, Brian, the big question, if push came to shove, are you on that?
13:06Are you on that space mission?
13:07No, I would follow your character, I think, which would be because the ask is that you give your life
13:16away to save the world.
13:17Yeah. And so I don't know. I always think I'd like to go into space to see the just want
13:23to see the Earth from space.
13:24So I'd like a couple of days, maybe around the moon to see Earth rise over the moon.
13:28Just like a cruise round, really. Yeah.
13:31This decade long journey to save the stars. I don't know.
13:35NASA now going Brian Cox out.
13:37So basically they'd have to put him in a coma like your character.
13:41He'd have to inject.
13:42Yeah. Well, Ryan's film Project Hail Mary is in cinemas and IMAX from next Thursday, 19th of March.
13:49Still to come, we've got a Real Wildlife exclusive with Chris Packham as he reveals some of the stunning photographs
13:55from his new exhibition.
13:56And Brian will be telling us all about his exciting new role as the UN's champion of space.
14:02What a title.
14:03Yeah.
14:03But before that, for Science Week this week, we're celebrating space experiments closer to home as tech expert Lucy Hedges
14:09meets the next generation of space scientists.
14:14It's been more than 50 years since the last Apollo mission to the moon, but now NASA's Artemis program is
14:20preparing to send astronauts back.
14:22As the global space race gathers pace, so does the search for the next generation of space scientists.
14:29And today here in Buckinghamshire, students from all across the country are beginning to get a taste of what it
14:35takes to become a professional by designing and launching their very own simulation of a satellite.
14:41The project's called CANSAT. It's a national competition for 14 to 19 year olds funded by the UK and European
14:48space agencies.
14:50The young people have to design and build a mini satellite that fits into the size of a soft drinks
14:55can.
14:56The UK has a thriving space sector, but we have a skills gap. So what we really need to do
15:03is encourage more people to consider space careers.
15:06And what kind of jobs are available out there?
15:08There's a lot of opportunities for science, technology, engineering and maths.
15:13But also we vitally need people from things like project management, business, even have space lawyers and space textiles.
15:19There's something for everybody.
15:22These students have been working on their satellites known as CANSATs for months.
15:26And today they'll be testing them for the very first time.
15:30So we've got the basic can with the lid and it's got holes in the bottom for like airflow.
15:363D printed this piece, which has a lot of like our tech inside it.
15:40And we've got a parachute which will tie in.
15:42When you're doing engineering, you're doing like coding, you're doing the software, you're doing the hardware, everything.
15:45It's like the skill of being able to build everything together.
15:51Once complete, the CANSATs are loaded onto real life rockets.
15:57These satellites don't actually go into orbit, but they will be launched 300 metres above the earth at a speed
16:03of around 300 kilometres per hour.
16:05Now as they make their way back down, the students are hoping they'll transmit data on atmospheric conditions and all
16:10that hard work will pay off.
16:12OK.
16:153, 2, 1.
16:23Come on, deploy, squeeze.
16:25Yay!
16:28Wait, ours is ours enjoying it.
16:30No, ours is the light on it.
16:31Do it like a little spin.
16:35With the CANSATs deployed, the students check whether they're transmitting the atmospheric data.
16:41Did we get data?
16:42Yep.
16:42Yes.
16:43It was going live, I saw it updated.
16:45Yeah, it went successful, we got loads of data as well.
16:48We're going to plot a graph with our data, it's all going to be good.
16:50Today's launches have been a success, and for the teams that progress in the competition, the finals will be held
16:57in June.
16:58And do you think being a part of this project has made you think about a career in the space
17:01industry?
17:02I think it's definitely opened my eyes to different pathways that are out there that I didn't know about before.
17:07Getting to try more mechanical engineering, more different types was a really good experience and it definitely has opened my
17:13eyes.
17:13I think there is a job in there that I could appreciate.
17:16It's a great thing to put on a statement saying, we've done this, it's all been successful.
17:21I've been really inspired by what I've seen today and I'm sure that I'll be seeing them working with me
17:27in the future.
17:31Thank you Lucy and good luck to all the students taking part in the competition and the winners will be
17:35invited to a special learning event in the Netherlands later this year.
17:39Yeah, it is so important, obviously making science successful.
17:42Brian, I know that's something that you're so passionate about.
17:45And I think a lot of people forget you're still teaching as well.
17:47You teach at Manchester Uni.
17:49I mean, do you still get that buzz after all these years?
17:52Absolutely.
17:52It's one of the things I love about Hail Mary actually, it's a teacher that saves the world.
17:57And every time I teach this course and it's been quantum mechanics and relativity introductory and I've quoted about 10
18:03years.
18:04Every time I learn something because every time someone will ask a question and it's like, I don't know.
18:10I haven't thought of that.
18:11So you learn something about the subject.
18:13Yeah.
18:14Those students in Manchester have lucked out, haven't they?
18:17Yeah.
18:17Yeah.
18:18Absolutely.
18:19Who's the teacher?
18:20Well, yeah.
18:21But you have been made UN champion of space.
18:26Yeah.
18:26That is one heck of a title.
18:29Yeah.
18:33What's the job description, Brian?
18:35Well, so the United Nations has this office called the Office for Outer Space Affairs.
18:40And the joke is, which is true, it's the smallest office in the United Nations with the biggest remit.
18:45Because it's all of the universe other than Earth.
18:48Yeah.
18:48But it's the office that, for example, now we have, you know, as we expand into space, our economy is
18:55growing into space.
18:55So there's questions arise about what if, if you have a moon base, what's the radius around it that's your
19:01territory?
19:01What happens if you mine asteroids?
19:03Do you own the asteroid?
19:04How do you, if satellites might collide, who's got the authority to move them?
19:08So all those questions, which are really important actually, are now becoming important.
19:13So the little office for outer space affairs is becoming more and more important.
19:18Yeah.
19:18Wow.
19:19So have you basically become the elected person to speak to aliens if they ever come down?
19:23Is that, is that kind of what it is?
19:24I think that's what it is.
19:24Do you know what I mean?
19:25I don't know anybody knows who that is.
19:28It's you.
19:29No, it's you now.
19:30Well, it probably is, yes.
19:32You remember when you see Stargazing Live on the BBC?
19:34Yeah.
19:35And there was one where we had this competition for viewers to go through data and find exoplanets in the
19:40data.
19:40So they're planets around other stars.
19:42And we detected hundreds of them now.
19:44So someone found one.
19:45So the Jodrell Bank radio telescope in Manchester, we pointed it live on air at the star for a joke,
19:51right?
19:51And said, let's listen, see if anybody's out there.
19:54And the BBC had a panic and said, but what happens if we hear something?
19:58We don't know what the protocol is.
19:59We don't know who to ring up.
20:01Wow.
20:01Are you allowed to broadcast the discovery of alien life live on air?
20:05Yeah.
20:05And so it was, it was, and no one could figure out who it was.
20:08So if it's me.
20:08It's you.
20:09Then fine.
20:10It's you, Brian.
20:11I vote for you.
20:12Yeah.
20:13Well, you've had a tremendous amount of practice.
20:17Please don't make it mean that.
20:19Brian, the last time you were on, you were talking about your world tour, Emergence,
20:23which looks at the origins of life.
20:25But now you've added some great music to the show.
20:28And I know it's something obviously you're so passionate about.
20:30Yeah.
20:30I mean, part of the, part of the challenge is to make science emotional.
20:35I mean, it is emotional and it is interesting and fascinating, but how do you heighten that emotion?
20:39And so I, I was really fortunate because I asked two musicians, one Dario Marinelli, who's a film composer and
20:45has an Oscar for it.
20:46And PJ Harvey.
20:48And I just happened to ask them and they both said yes.
20:51And so we had this collaboration where we wrote music for the tour and Polly in particular, PJ, wrote this
20:57beautiful piece of music for Voyager.
20:58So we were just talking about Voyager in the break.
21:00So we had this idea that what would Voyager say to us?
21:04It's 50 years in space next year.
21:06It's an interstellar space.
21:08We're still in contact with both of these space.
21:10Is it further from Earth than any other man-made?
21:13Yeah.
21:13So it's, yeah, it's, it's, I think it's some 20, almost a daylight travel time to this thing, but it's
21:18still talking to us.
21:19And so we had this idea, what would it say?
21:22How would it speak to us?
21:24And so she wrote this absolutely beautiful song.
21:28Yeah.
21:28And then we had an orchestra playing on it and recorded it in France.
21:31Beautiful.
21:32Yeah.
21:32Well, we've got, we've got a clip.
21:33We can actually take a listen now.
22:00That studio, it's Miraval Studios, which Brad Pitt now is.
22:04And he's renovated it.
22:06And it was where the wall was recorded there, Pink Floyd.
22:09Wow.
22:09He's got this tremendous history.
22:11And so they, they helped us as well.
22:13And, you know, allowed us to record the music there.
22:15And you hear the Voyager there saying, saying shelter and saying about choose, choose love.
22:21And so it's, it's, it's reflecting from its 50 years of loneliness.
22:24It's a really lovely song.
22:26That will definitely add another layer, won't it, to the tour.
22:29But you used to be a keyboardist for D&D.
22:32And you do really believe, you have since the beginning, that I know you can do it all.
22:36Can't you?
22:37There you go.
22:39But you really think that music and science.
22:40And you can shred.
22:41Yeah, you can.
22:42Damn.
22:43Do it all.
22:44I sometimes have a monitor put on so I could, in any gig, I have to stand there and put
22:48my foot on stage.
22:50Yeah.
22:51I mean, speaking of music, Ryan, I have to bring this up.
22:53Do you break the keyboard when you're done?
22:55Are you that kind of player?
22:56Yeah.
22:56Not anymore.
22:57Not anymore.
22:57But you were?
22:58Maybe, maybe, maybe.
23:00Not you, Brian Cox.
23:01No.
23:02I was a pretty rock and roll in my time, you know.
23:04Yeah.
23:05I don't doubt it.
23:05But that's why we're saying that there could be a little bromance going on.
23:07Because Ryan, I know you play as well.
23:10You play piano.
23:10You learned piano in, was it four months for La La Land?
23:13Yeah.
23:14Yes.
23:14I think so.
23:15Yeah.
23:15I mean, was that a difficult task to, like, all of a sudden just be like...
23:18To become a jazz pianist.
23:20Yes.
23:20Yeah.
23:20Yes.
23:21And I forgot immediately after.
23:23I was going to say, when, like, friends and family watched it afterwards, did any of them say to me,
23:27was it real?
23:28Was it really you playing?
23:29I can't believe it's real.
23:31But, yeah.
23:31I was able to learn it for the moment and then do it in the scene.
23:35And then I had to, like, make room for other things.
23:38Yes.
23:39So now you can't.
23:40No, I don't know.
23:41Now you've just got science jargon.
23:43No, I don't even have that.
23:44Oh, yeah, that's gone too.
23:46It's gone.
23:46No, we had a conversation about quantum mechanics, didn't we, the other day.
23:49It was a fascinating question.
23:50Well, I'm glad you feel that way.
23:51Thank you, Brian Cox.
23:53Can I get a copy of this?
23:54Because that was pretty cool.
23:56You can see Brian on his World Tour Emergence from the 7th of October when it launches at
24:01the Edinburgh Playhouse.
24:02And you can also catch up with his TV series like Adventures in Space and Time and Solar System on
24:07BBC iPlayer.
24:08Yeah.
24:08Now from science and space to the world of photography and a brand new exhibition celebrating the extraordinary
24:13images captured by Chris Packham.
24:14And before it opens to the public later this week, wildlife filmmaker Hannah Stitfill get
24:19an exclusive look at some of the photos with the man himself to find out the inspiration behind them.
24:26I've been presenting wildlife shows alongside Chris Packham for nearly 10 years.
24:31Put your hands together for Mr Chris Packham.
24:34But there's one aspect of his life I've not talked to him about much and that's our shared passion of
24:39photography.
24:41As Chris prepares for his new photography exhibition, I want to understand what he loves about picking up a camera.
24:48So Chris, we're here at Wetland Centre in London.
24:51Now this is the sort of place that I would come try to photograph some species and behaviours.
24:56But you don't work like that do you?
24:58No, no camera here for me.
25:00I never go out on the off chance.
25:02For me it's all about conceiving the potential for a picture in advance.
25:06For me the species isn't important.
25:08What's important is the picture and what it's trying to say.
25:11Chris's photography began as a way of capturing the wildlife that fascinated him as a child.
25:18His sister Jenny, now a fashion designer, remembers his early experiments with the camera very well.
25:24Wow, look at these photographs.
25:28There's Chris and I when we were passport photo-ing.
25:31This one's gorgeous Chris, tell us about this one.
25:33I don't really remember this one to be honest.
25:35Well okay, so listen, I wanted to photograph the peacock because I was obsessed with birds.
25:40Jenny wanted to be in the photograph, she wanted me to photograph her.
25:44I was refusing to do that, as you can tell by the disgruntled look on her face.
25:48I think my story is that he possibly could have been doing something for too long.
25:53And I'm saying, come on, it's time to go.
25:55However, as you can see the peacock is not in focus and I am.
26:02By his twenties Chris was already developing the meticulous style that now defines his wildlife photography.
26:08Oh I like that one, the symmetry in that is stunning.
26:11I like symmetry, I find it comfortable.
26:13That's a multiple exposure of puffins on scoma.
26:17Do you know what, your personality comes through in these photographs.
26:21It's very ordered, precise, straight to the point.
26:25You can tell that they're yours.
26:29Can I take that as a compliment?
26:33Chris believes the way he approaches photography is shaped by how his brain works.
26:38I'm an autistic person, so for me control is really important.
26:43And if I'm going to try and make a perfect picture, I've got to take control of it.
26:46And do you think that's what drew you to photography in the first place?
26:49Yeah, I think when I'm taking a photograph I'm so focused on what I'm doing that the rest of the
26:55world ceases to exist.
26:57It completely connects me with nature.
26:58It's quite calming and in some way sort of reduces anxiety I think.
27:03That same attention to detail is something Chris recognised straight away in another photographer, Alfie Bowen.
27:10I first met Chris when I was about eight years old, bird watching in a hide.
27:14And I saw some of your photos on Instagram.
27:17Yeah.
27:17And I started liking them and sending appreciative comments.
27:21Because they're stand out, I mean I have to say, they're exceptional.
27:24Growing up with autism, school was a difficult place for Alfie.
27:28I think the older I got the more difficult it was.
27:31I was a class of 30 and no one spoke to me.
27:33I felt so alone.
27:34I got told that I'd never amount to anything.
27:37Photography gave Alfie a way to express himself.
27:40It transports me to another world really.
27:42My escape from the pressures of being around people all the while to where I can be myself.
27:48And your photos are quite ordered and precise, much like Chris's.
27:52Do you think you share that?
27:54I think there's an overlap in the way that we sort of take photographs in the degree of precision.
27:59So I'm going to get that giraffe picture.
28:01I go straight to the giraffes.
28:03I sit there six hours, seven hours until I get the picture.
28:06The amount of confidence as nature and photography has given me is amazing.
28:10Chris hopes his exhibition will encourage people to think differently about animals.
28:15And I have a favourite.
28:16Tell me about this photo, Chris.
28:18So it's red squirrel, one of the nation's favourite animals.
28:20It's not very arty, but the fact that people love it is important.
28:24Because I'm trying to engage with people here and say, love life, all life.
28:30It does look very happy.
28:31I tell you it's happy because I've been throwing nuts for it there to get it in the right place.
28:37What strikes me about Chris and Alfie's work is what started out as a way of coping has turned into
28:43something extraordinary.
28:44It's a way of connecting with nature, connecting with yourself and producing images that can be utterly inspiring.
28:55Oh, thank you, Hannah and Chris.
28:57And you can catch Chris's exhibition More Beautiful Than You when it opens at the iconic Images Gallery in London
29:02on Thursday.
29:03Quick message.
29:05Caitlin says, be still, my beating heart.
29:08Two greats on the sofa tonight.
29:10Caitlin, your dreams have come true.
29:14That is all we've got time for tonight.
29:16Thank you so much.
29:17Thank you for having me again.
29:18Great guests.
29:19Tomorrow on the sofa will be Danny Dyer and Fern Cotton plus Matt is back for watch time.
29:23Have a lovely evening. Bye bye.
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