Remember when Michaela Strachan was a popstar 25 years before Springwatch?

4 February 2022, 17:33

Michaela Strachan almost had a career as a popstar
Michaela Strachan almost had a career as a popstar. Picture: Shutterstock/Alamy

By Tom Eames

Michaela Strachan is best known today as one of the leading nature and wildlife TV presenters, but it could have turned out very differently.

25 years before joining the Springwatch and Autumnwatch team, Michaela Strachan started her TV career in the pop world, and even recorded a track that sadly didn't dent the charts at the time.

As a teenager, began her career as a presenter on Saturday-morning TV in the 1980s, including programmes like Good Morning Britain and Wide Awake Club with Timmy Mallett.

By 1988, she hosted Boogie Box on music channel Music Box, and the same year she joined up with music guru Pete Waterman as the 'Her' in Hitman and Her.

H.A.P.P.Y. Radio Music Video

The show would air in the early hours on weekends, filming at various clubs across the country and following club-goers as they partied the night away.

The show would even be the launchpad for future Take That star Jason Orange, who was invited to join the group after several appearances on the show.

Two years into the show, Michaela gave pop a go herself, recording the tune 'Take Good Care of My Heart' in 1990. Sadly, it wasn't a hit, reaching number 66 in the charts.

Michaela Strachen : Take Good Care Of My Heart (Video).

Her other song was a cover of Edwin Starr's 'H.A.P.P.Y. Radio', reaching number 62 in 1989.

In 1993, a year after The Hitman and Her ended, Michaela joined the children's wildlife programme The Really Wild Show.

Eventually, Michaela would front other nature shows including Countryfile and Springwatch, teaming up with her former Really Wild Show co-star Chris Packham.

Michaela Strachan's singing background has led some fans to wonder whether she could be appearing in ITV's The Masked Singer as Mushroom, due to various nature-themed clues.