Liz was born in France to a French father and Trinidadian mother of Indian and Portuguese descent, and moved to Ireland when she was nine years old. Having had the chance to immerse herself in all things nature from an early age, she was especially interested in biology and chemistry at school, which led her to study biochemistry at Trinity College, Dublin.
She later completed a Masters in wild animal biology with the Royal Veterinary College and Zoological Society of London, during which she set up a research project to study tigers in Nepal, coming first in her class. Following her Masters, Liz decided to try her hand at sharing her passion for science and natural history on screen.
Liz’s route into science and wildlife presenting was certainly not a premeditated one. After university she took a year out to travel and sing in a band, and ended up presenting the IRMA Music Awards for RTÉ in Ireland. She continued her adventures in entertainment TV for several years, moving to London to present Channel 4’s breakfast show RI:SE and BBC One’s cult music show Top of the Pops. During that time, she also got the chance to film a documentary about tigers in Pench National Park in India, which prompted her to return to her plan of studying for a Masters.
They say timing is everything, and as soon as Liz completed her final Masters exam, she was hired by the BBC to present Bang Goes the Theory, BBC One’s popular science magazine show, which aired for eight seasons. Liz then worked on BBC Two’s Museum of Life, a series about the Natural History Museum in London; BBC Two’s landmark science documentary strand Horizon, presenting specials on The Transit of Venus, and Tomorrow’s World, where she delved into the science and technology set to transform the planet; and Animals In Love for BBC One, which saw her travel the globe to investigate the science of animal behaviour, cognition and emotional intelligence.
Liz has since presented over 40 primetime programmes, including award-winning projects such as Blue Planet Live, Super Smart Animals and Galapagos. With her landmark BBC One documentary Drowning in Plastic, she expanded her skill set to include environmental reporting, as she investigated the ocean plastic crisis, helping to raise the level of public debate on this important issue.
Liz’s other work includes Operation Snow Tiger, a series on Amur tigers for BBC Two during which she tracked the world’s largest big cat in the Russian Far East, and BAFTA award-winning Big Blue Live for BBC One and PBS in the US, a marine wildlife extravaganza in which humpbacks, great white sharks and blue whales were filmed Live. She presented the award-winning Galapagos for BBC One, a three-part series that saw her join an expedition carrying out groundbreaking research across the archipelago, and undertake her first submersible dive to 1km beneath the waves, the deepest anyone had gone on the island chain.
Liz has also presented Our Changing Planet for BBC One, an ambitious seven-year series documenting the greatest environmental challenges of our time and the groundbreaking conservation offering wildlife a lifeline around the globe, Liz Bonnin’s Wild Caribbean for BBC Two, that saw her celebrate the magnificent region’s wildlife and the local communities who are passionately protecting it, and the podcast series What Planet Are We On, that delved into our impact on the planet, and Dead River, that documented the biggest environmental disaster in Brazil’s history, leading to over 620,000 victims fighting for justice in the UK courts.
Liz regularly speaks at and hosts science, conservation and business sector events, including the National Science + Engineering Competition, the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards, New Scientist Live and Blue Dot Festival.
Liz is president of The Wildlife Trusts and spends much of her free time visiting the 46 Trusts of the federation across the British Isles. She is National Geographic Explorer, collaborating with a phenomenal community of innovators to push the boundaries of storytelling, and is also an honorary Fellow of the British Science Association.
