Is Chris Packham getting dumped by the BBC? Could it be because he's suing so many journalists - including me?
First he seems to have been kicked off Winterwatch then Autumnwatch show is canned in BBC "cost cutting". The news coincides with him trying to sue more journalists and media organisations.
Scroll down for latest updates…
In January 2023, Leigh Day solicitors sent me an email saying Chris Packham wants to sue me for a video and article I wrote/filmed about him published in June 2022. Here’s the conversation so far with some relevant news items thrown in along the way to put things into perspective:
20/01/2023
I ask Peter whether this is the article: https://www.fieldsportschannel.tv/bornfreelions/ as it was published just before Christmas and includes part of the history of a tiger called ‘Simi’ that ended up at Packham’s zoo on the Isle of Wight. The zoo’s website tells a different story to the one I do. The difference is mine is based on facts verified by a German court.
I am given two weeks to respond to an attached four-page “letter before action”:
Three members of Fieldsports Channel are sent similar letters.
I’m not sure if the other letter started with “as you know”, but I didn’t know some of the things the firm wrote.
Around the same time, viewers of Chris Packham’s Winterwatch programme discover he is not presenting it this year, despite the BBC advertising he would on its website two weeks before the series began:
23/01/2023
Fieldsports Channel responds to its “letter before action” by admitting none of us has any money, so it’s pointless trying to sue. Leigh Day writes back with an “offer” and copies me in the email, even though the letter is not addressed to me. At the top of the Fieldsports Channel offer, Leigh puts this:
24/01/2023
British newspapers quote Packham as saying he is “burnt out” as the reason he isn’t on Winterwatch. He says he’s going to take a break from broadcasting:
02/02/2023
The day before the deadline for me to respond to Leigh Day, the BBC announces it’s going to scrap Autumnwatch, another of Packham’s shows, because it’s not very popular. It’s also going to shorten the next series of Winterwatch to a week:
BBC director-general Tim Davie insists, “We are surrounded by global players with monster budgets. We must pick our battles carefully…” Some good advice there perhaps, for serial suers. In one month, it seems one of the BBC’s most high-profile presenters is being moved to arms length. Why is that, when he’s supposedly the top choice to replace David Attenborough?
03/02/2023
A couple of minutes after Fieldsports Channel responds to Leigh Day’s offer, I email mine:
*for info on Parry and Welch’s means-profiling, please see my 25/03/2023 post “A shaggy dog story: how a teenage animal rights extremist cheated supporters, duped celebrities and destroyed innocent lives“
05/02/2023
I’ve never read The Conservative Woman before but I will start now after seeing this piece: https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/notes-from-the-sticks-sing-a-song-of-blackbirds/
07/02/2023
Premier rag the Express is reporting that Chris is angry there are rumours he’s retiring. The only rumours I’ve heard are the ones where he’s getting sacked steadily removed from the BBC because David Attenborough doesn’t like him. I’m not sure where Chris is getting his information from.
08/02/2023
Received an email with letter attached from Leigh Day. Neither says much, but they speak volumes.
Firstly, trainee Peter has been taken off letter-writing duty after getting Fieldsport Channel’s name wrong. Oh no, I just did it too! It’s such an easy mistake to make. But if you’re charging people £500 a letter and you get a defendant’s name wrong, you’re in the shit. He also didn’t know whether to use ‘faithfully’ or ‘sincerely’ when signing off. Bye Pete - have fun in the mail room.
Secondly, Peter was replaced by one of the proper fully-trained solicitors. Unfortunately not one of the ones who puts pronouns in brackets after their name. That kind of jiggery wokery always makes me chuckle.
Thirdly, it seems my email rang alarm bells in Leigh Day’s offices because of a link. The company has the same policy as me not to click them yet still sends people emails out of the blue asking them to click links.
The attached letter was just as inane.
Firstly, the firm insists on writing CBE after Chris Packham’s name. This must be to distinguish from the many other Chris Packhams out there suing people willy-nilly whenever their feelings get hurt or wants some cash.
Secondly: “We refer to your letter of 3rd February 2023, which we understand to be your response to our letter of claim”. Very astute this firm is, as that’s exactly what I wrote in the email I attached the letter to.
Thirdly, “we do not consider that your letter complies with the requirements of the Pre-Action Protocol)”, it goes on. I’ve checked the pre-action protocol rules and I haven’t violated them. This is, of course, just Leigh Day’s opinion and is not based on fact, law or truth. Almost all the accusations about me in the company’s own letter were wrong and I merely pointed out the mistakes. A normal person would thank me for the constructive criticism, but Leigh Day believes - because it’s paid to - that my response was not “protocol”.
Then, “our client's claim will rely upon your correspondence to date as a matter that aggravates any damages to which he is held to be entitled”. As far as I know, Chris Packham has not been awarded any damages, so this is speculation. What this line actually tells me is Chris Packham is pissed off and lashing out. It would be a shame if the judge just threw out the whole complaint because, as I’ve pointed out, I have nothing to do with most of the claims the firm makes about me. The firm has not reissued the letter with my questions answered.
In fact, “our client's claim will rely upon your correspondence to date“ also tells me the firm knows I have nothing to do with anything they accuse me of and since he hired it to harass me, my responses will form the basis of his complaint. Surely if he hadn’t sent me the letter in the first place, I would not have had to criticise a very poorly-constructed pre-action letter.
Finally, there’s the fake signature the firm made up for Leigh Day, someone who doesn’t exist.
UPDATE 17/02/2023
Oh dear, it seems one of the partners at Leigh Day accidentally sent an email to the wrong people.
Not that one, but this one, where the sender has stupidly set “reply all” as default:
See you next Tuesday Carol. Then there’s the response from Country Squire:
At the same time, Leigh Day is planning to sue Jeremy Clarkson - or his TV programme at least. There’s a crowdfunded page with more info here: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-diddly-squat/
This comes a couple of months after Chris Packham called for Jeremy Clarkson to be imprisoned for his satirical opinion piece about Meghan Markle:
Today, I responded to an email I was sent a couple of days ago from Leigh Day. I referred to the emails I was shared today:
UPDATE 20/02/2023
18/02/2023
Saturday night, just before 7pm, Carol Day and Tessa Gregory launch a double-barrelled email assault in the space of a minute. Rather than go for the tried and tested good cop/bad cop approach, they instead do bad cop/worse cop.
The attack fails to ruin my weekend. They try really hard but so far, none of the emails sent to me from Leigh Day has been scary or kept me awake at night quaking under my duvet.
20/02/2023
Taking a page from Leigh Day’s email etiquette guidelines, I respond minutes before their deadline ends. I skip the part where they send the message to the wrong people but do add the Fieldsports Channel team. I also CC Pete, as I’m concerned he feels left out after being removed from email duty.
All this hassle just so Chris Packham can try to rubbish a completely different story that is, if I say so myself, well researched and a right riveting read - if a bit long. It’s here: https://www.fieldsportschannel.tv/bornfreelions/
SLAPP explained here; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation
2023/02/24
Leigh Day sent a few documents yesterday. Pete has returned to letter-writing duty:
Then there’s their bad cop letter trying to answer queries from my 20/02/2023 email:
UPDATE 19/09/2023
Wow… this came out a week ago but I’ve only just seen it. Who says the government is useless? I can think of at least one person and they’re not a Russian oligarch, as far as I know.
UPDATE 07/11/2023
Congratulations Chris. Oh wait… ‘He sued the wrong firm’? How could such a high-profile and professional law firm make such a basic error? Incredible.
I think we’ve all learnt a valuable lesson.
UPDATE 12/11/2023
Packham gloats on Twitter/X about winning the lawsuit. He stuck to his claim that the £30,000 he was paid was “substantial“, when really, compared with the £1 million he’s splurged on spurious private prosecocutions this year, it’s not really, is it?
He forgets to mention his lawyers are so inept they sued the wrong company. What he does do though, is post excerpts from the video he threatened Fieldsports Channel to take down and forbid either of us from republishing. How does that work?
“You cannot fabricate stories and ruin peoples lives without consequences,” Packham says, forgetting all the climate change bullshit he’s been peddling for years, brainwashing children to the point where they want to kill themselves.
As consequences go, you can’t get much lower than that. Well done Chris.
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