From Twisting to Twitching with High-flying Hamza
Strictly Ballroom winner films Ealing's peregrines for TV
Hamza filming outside Ealing Hospital
September 18, 2023
Eagle-eyed passers-by might have noticed a familiar figure in the grounds of Ealing Hospital earlier this year.
Strictly Ballroom winner Hamza Yussin was there to capture on film the peregrines that have made the hospital their home.
Hamza, a wildlife cameraman, was filming the birds for a BBC TV show due to be broadcast at 7pm on 24 September called Hamza: Strictly Birds of Prey.
The show follows Hamza around the UK capturing his ‘top ten’ birds on film as he roams the outdoors to capture its beauty on film as a wildlife cameraman.
While working on BBC One’s Wild Isles last year, the call came for Hamza to join the Strictly Come Dancing line-up and he ended up taking home the Glitterball trophy. In this film he reunites with some of the videographers who he worked on Wild Isles with, including his friends and mentors Simon King and John Aitchison, and many more.
He has also previously filmed and presented for The One Show, Countryfile, Animal Park, as well as Let’s Go For A Walk where younger viewers will know him as Ranger Hamza.
“Birds of prey are powerful, majestic, beautiful, charismatic, intelligent. What I think of when I wake up, what I dream about” he says.
Ealing is the most urban of locations he visits with the film seeing him meeting hen harriers in the Cairngorms, white-tailed eagles in his back garden in the Ardnamurchan Peninsular, hobbies and marsh harriers over the Somerset Levels.
Hamza said, “All my life I have had a passion for birds of prey, so this documentary film is a dream come true for me.
“It’s an opportunity to share more of the joy I experienced on Wild Isles while I film my top ten of Britain’s birds of prey.”
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |