TV presenter Jimmy Doherty to arrive in Peterborough to help city’s bees

New show Can Jimmy Save the Bees? will see TV presenter and campaigner Jimmy Doherty based in Peterborough for a year, trying to increase the population of the insects in the city.

The programme will be broadcast next year, but on Thursday, July 18, Jimmy will be in Cathedral Square to launch the Big Bee Count.

The event will start at 12.45pm, and the team behind the show are encouraging as many people as possible to turn up to join in.

Jimmy said: “Since I was a kid, bees have declined so much one species has even become extinct.

“We need to do everything we can to reverse this trend, because they are more vital to our lives than we realise.

“I’ve been passionate about insects since I studied entomology, and I’d love to get people all across the UK to join my campaign and help Britain’s bees.”

In the series, he will demonstrate how farmers, businesses and local government can all help to solve the problem.

And he will also show viewers of the series how they too can play their part.

Paul Hetherington, from Peterborough based charity Buglife, said: “Bees are essential to life as we know it. Without pollinators there would be no fruits, peas, beans or tomatoes and eight out of every ten of our wildflowers would disappear.

“They are worth over half a billion pounds annually to the UK farming economy but are suffering alarming declines with several species close to extinction.

“But it is not all gloom and doom as we can all play a role in stemming this decline by providing oasis of nectar rich flowers even if only in window boxes and provide suitable nesting tubes for solitary bees. An this can be a real win win for us since most herbs are excellent for our pollinators and also provide great flavour for the kitchen.”

Alf Lawrie, Head of Factual Entertainment at Channel 4 said: “Channel 4 has a long history of programming that sets out to inform, entertain and push for changes to the status quo. We’re proud to be working with Jimmy on this important series.”