George McGavin

George C. McGavin FLS FRGS FRSGS Hon. FRSB Hon. FRES (born 1954) is a British entomologist, television presenter, author and explorer.

Best known for co-presenting the BBC Natural History Unit's Lost Land expedition trilogy (2008–10) and as chief scientific consultant on David Attenborough's Life in the Undergrowth, he has spent over three decades combining academic research at the University of Oxford with wide-ranging science communication.

McGavin is an honorary research associate at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and visiting professor of entomology at the University of Derby, and is president of the Dorset Wildlife Trust and an ambassador for Zero Hour. He has written books on entomology and natural history, ranging from children's guides to textbooks.

Early life and education McGavin was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1954 and grew up in Edinburgh, where he attended Daniel Stewart's College. His parents were both artists.

He studied zoology at the University of Edinburgh between 1971 and 1975, and has said that his interest in entomology formed during a field trip to the west coast of Scotland, when he became transfixed by wood ants while his classmates searched for larger animals. – and the Natural History Museum, London – in 1978 before taking up a teaching and research post at the University of Oxford.

Academic career McGavin is an honorary research associate at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, where his research interests centre on terrestrial arthropods, public understanding of science, and exploration. He is also a visiting professor of entomology at the University of Derby. Between 1984 and 2008 he served as assistant curator of the entomology collections at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and held lecturing posts at Trinity College, Oxford and subsequently Jesus College, Oxford.

Several insect species have been named after McGavin by fellow entomologists in recognition of his contributions to the field, including the ant Tapinoma mcgavini (Taylor, 2009); the cockroach Allacta mcgavini (Roth, 1991); and the longhorn beetle Eburodacrys mcgavini (Pett, 2019). He is a fellow of the Linnean Society and the Royal Geographical Society, and an honorary fellow of the Royal Entomological Society (2014) and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (2024).

Beyond his institutional roles, McGavin has written extensively for both academic and general audiences, producing field guides, handbooks and textbooks spanning insect identification, essential entomology and arthropod ecology. He has lectured at the Cheltenham Science Festival, given the Royal Geographical Society's children's Christmas lecture and contributed to their schools programme. In 2008 he won Earthwatch's World's most invaluable species debate, broadcast on BBC Radio 4. In 2017 he delivered the Royal Entomological Society's Verrall lecture, Tales from television: An entomologist's perspective.

Broadcasting career McGavin with fellow CAN Bill supporting scientists outside the UK Parliament (September 2024). McGavin's television career spans expedition documentaries, specialist natural history films, mainstream science broadcasting, and consultancy work. His most prominent presenting role came with the BBC's Lost Land trilogy — Lost Land of the Jaguar (2008), Lost Land of the Volcano (2009) and Lost Land of the Tiger (2010) — following wildlife expeditions into some of the world's most remote habitats. This built on his earlier work presenting Expedition Borneo (2007) for the Discovery Channel.

He has presented and co-presented a wide range of documentaries for BBC Four, including Planet Ant: Life Inside the Colony (2013), Monkey Planet (2014), Oak Tree: Nature's Greatest Survivor (2017), The Secret Life of Landfill: A Rubbish History (2018, with Zoe Laughlin) and Ocean Autopsy: The Secret Story of Our Seas (2020, with Helen Czerski). Oak Tree won the Royal Television Society award for Best Science and Natural History Documentary and the Grierson Award for Best Science Documentary in 2016.

He co-presented Prehistoric Autopsy (2012) with Alice Roberts, fronted the two-part Dissected series on the human hand and foot (2014), and presented Nature's Turtle Nursery: Secrets from Inside the Nest. He worked on The Dark, a study of animal nocturnal behaviour for BBC Two (2012). McGavin also presented The Secret Life of Your House for ITV (2015) and Miniature Britain (2021) and Ultimate Swarms (2022) for the BBC.

His programme Afterlife: The Science of Decay broadcast on BBC Two in December 2011. The programme won the Grierson award for Best Science Documentary, a BAFTA Scotland for Best Single Documentary, the Broadcast Digital award for Best Popular Factual Programme, the Rockie Award at the Banff World Media Festival, and the British Association of Science Writers award for Best Scripted Television Programme, all in 2012.

In mainstream broadcasting, McGavin has been a regular contributor to The One Show on BBC One, and has appeared on Channel 4's Richard & Judy — where he cooked and ate insects on air

Patronage and advocacy

McGavin serves as president of the Dorset Wildlife Trust and as an ambassador for Earthwatch. He is also a patron of Wildscreen, the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society and Alderney Wildlife Trust.

McGavin is as an ambassador for Zero Hour, the campaign for the Climate and Nature Bill. In September 2024, he was among over 1,000 climate scientists, ecologists, academics and medical professionals who signed an open letter to MPs calling on Parliamentarians to support the 2020–25 private member's bill. He also spoke at events advocating for the bill – including a fringe event at the 2023 Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

Personal life McGavin is married to Lois McGavin and they have a daughter. In 2018, McGavin was diagnosed with a rare form of melanoma, and the following year presented a BBC documentary about his diagnosis and treatment, A Year to Save My Life.

McGavin spoke about the severe stutter he experienced in childhood when he appeared as a guest on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 in February 2021, hosted by Lauren Laverne.