Countryfile - Anita Rani's East Coast Road Trip: Northey Island - 6:00 pm Sunday, July 5 on BBC Two England

About this Broadcast

Anita Rani's East Coast Road Trip: Northey Island
Season 2026, Episode 1

Anita Rani begins a four-part journey along England's east coast, exploring the wildlife, landscapes and communities adapting to life on the edge of the sea. Her first stop is Northey Island in Essex, an internationally important refuge for threatened birds including curlew, lapwing and dunlin. With rising sea levels putting increasing pressure on coastal habitats, Anita finds out about an innovative conservation project using retired Thames barges to help protect the island's future, and meets volunteers working to safeguard vulnerable ringed plover nests using a simple but effective solution. Plus, Anita delves into the Countryfile archives to revisit some of the projects helping create more space for nature to thrive

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Education/Science/Factual Topics Nature/Animals/Environment Rural/Agricultural

Did You Know..

Anita Rani (Presenter)

Born: October 25, 1977 in Bradford

Best Known For: Various presenting roles.

Early-life: Born Ahita Rahi Nazran in Bradford on October 25, 1977. Anita enjoyed an early taste of broadcasting when she hosted her own show on Sunrise Radio at the age of 14. She went on to attend the University of Leeds before landing work as a TV researcher for the BBC and various independent TV companies.

Career: Rani soon began to make a name for herself in front of the camera on shows such as The Edit on Channel 5, The State We're In and Poetry Slam on BBC Three and Desi DNA on BBC Two. In 2005, she was a regular reporter on The Cricket Show on Channel 4 and a year later, she co-presented Cricket AM on Sky Sports. In 2009, she began co-presenting Watchdog on BBC One. She took on the role of presenting Four Rooms on Channel 4 in 2011. She has also collaborated with Justin Rowlatt on the documentary travelogues India on Four Wheels, China on Four Wheels and Russia on Four Wheels. In August 2015, it was announced that she would be a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing.

Quote: 'To get to experience a different country in any way is a pleasure and privilege.'

Trivia: In 2012, Rani won the BBC's Great Sport Relief Bake Off.

John Craven (Presenter)

Born: August 16, 1940 in Leeds

Best Known For: John Craven's Newsround and Countryfile.

Early-life: Born in Leeds on August 16, 1940, and was educated at Leeds Modern School; other famous pupils include playwright Alan Bennett and actor Bob Peck. Craven started his professional life in print journalism as a junior reporter on the Harrogate Advertiser before working for the Yorkshire Post and as a freelance correspondent and writer for national newspapers. He joined the BBC staff in Newcastle upon Tyne, to work on local radio and TV, before moving to the BBC in Bristol.

Career: From 1972 he was the eponymous host of a regular children's news programme, Newsround, often called John Craven's Newsround. The first such programme ever produced by British TV, it drew on the full journalistic resources of the BBC, and featured a number of news scoops, it being the first news programme of the day on TV during its early years. In 1989 he left the Newsround programme and began to present what was then the BBC's new rural affairs programme, Countryfile; although no longer its main presenter, he remains a fixture on the show.

Quote: 'The reality is that country people now have to fight to keep the things that once were taken for granted.'

Trivia: He was awarded an OBE in 2000.

Adam Henson (Presenter)

Best Known For: Countryfile.

Early-life: Adam was born in 1966 on the farm where he now works, Bemborough Farm near Guiting Power, Gloucestershire. He spent some time on the Chatsworth Estate before attending Seale-Hayne Agricultural College in Newton Abbot. After graduating, he spent a year travelling through Australia with his friend and later business partner Duncan Andrews. They worked on sheep and arable stations and a kiwi plantation in New Zealand before returning to Australia to plant tea in Queensland.

Career: Henson's father started the Cotswold Farm Park that he now runs with Andrews. It attracts more than 70,000 visitors a year. Henson made the move to TV in 2001 when he began presenting on Countryfile. Since then, he has worked on Countryfile Summer Diaries, Inside Out, Lambing Live and Radio 4's On Your Farm and Farming Today. In 2013, he worked with culinary writer Nigel Slater on Nigel and Adam's Farm Kitchen. Slater cooked fresh versions of supermarket favourites using produce grown by Henson.

Quote: 'There's not much chance of me becoming a media darling when I have to come back (to the farm) and muck out the pigs after filming!'

Trivia: In his spare time, Henson enjoys shopping for clothes.

Charlotte Smith (Presenter)

Mark Beech (Series editor)

Becky Pratt (Series producer)