-From the islands to the Highlands, Scotland's landscape is the perfect place for a wild escape.

Some well-known faces are heading into unfamiliar territory for an immersive experience they'll never forget.

Are you ready to be rewilded?

-Arrr.

-[ Laughs ] -That is... -Isn't this amazing?

-...stunning.

-Good God, this is beautiful.

-Oh, sorry.

-No, no, that's alright.

-I wasn't apologizing to you.

-I'm Hamza Yassin, born in Sudan and now living and working as a wildlife cameraman in the Scottish Highlands.

And I'll be their guide.

Put your thumb with your fingers and rub like that... -Uh-huh.

This -- This is a wind-up, right?

-No, I promise you.

Okay.

Some of them are up already.

-Oh, my God, look at that.

-Martin.

Martin.

Martin.

There, there, there, there.

Right there.

We'll use the time we have to get to know each other better... -So we were skinny dipping, and then all of a sudden, a tourist boat full of Norwegian Christians came around.

There was absolutely nothing we could do.

-No.

...and find reflection in unexpected places.

-At what point do you stop and say, "Actually, it's about me"?

-If I do, you know, keep appearing as myself, who's gonna believe me when I'm pretending to be somebody else?

-Together, we'll discover the wonderful wildlife found across this beautiful land... as we escape to the wilderness.

-Oh.

You [indistinct] -[ Gasps ] Sorry.

-What is it?

-It's a bee.

-Give me five, Ben.

Give me bloody five!

That was amazing.

On this escape, my companion is keen to get back to nature and enjoy a wonderful array of animals in their natural habitat.

By the end of these three days, we're gonna make an amazing team.

-I sense an underlying threat.

-[ Laughing ] Happy to immerse himself... -Oh, wow.

-...in the great outdoors.

You like it?

-Absolutely not staying here.

-You're out.

-I'm going back to the Marriott.

Thank you so much.

-Actor, comedian and author Ben Miller.

-[ Imitating owl call ] -And I've brought him to Perthshire to experience the wonder of rewilding.

-[ Animals honking ] -What's that sound?

-That's geese.

-I'm not kidding you, for a moment, I thought that was wolves.

-But on this trip, it's not only the animals being reintroduced to the wild.

-I've spent all day watching animals.

And now it's the animals' turn to watch me.

-It'll be a surprising journey of discovery for us both.

-How was it for you?

[ Laughs ] -I felt like I was being taken away.

And then I come back.

And then you're peeking your head above the trees.

-That's brilliant.

It's wild, isn't it?

♪♪ ♪♪ -Lying in the heart of Scotland is Perthshire, an area brimming with natural beauty.

From mountains and glens in the north to rolling fields and flowing rivers in the south, it marks the boundary of the lowlands and the highlands.

I've arranged to meet Ben at a rather unique part of this big county -- Bamff.

So welcome to Scotland.

-I have to say, it's not too shabby, is it?

-It's pretty cool, man.

-Not too shabby.

-How was your journey up?

-Flying to Edinburgh always reminds me of coming to the Edinburgh Festival, which I did for years and years.

And, um, yes, kind of electric excitement that I used to feel, you know, coming up for the festival.

-Yeah, well, I hope I can continue that excitement along the journey.

Speaking of which, the journey.

What would you like to gain out of these three days?

-I need a bit of excitement.

That feeling that something might -- might hunt you down and bite you.

-Okay.

Midges?

-Yes.

Even if it's a midgie.

Even if it's -- Oh.

-Exactly.

-Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Even if it's a midgie.

-I've brought Ben to Bamff for a reason.

And that's because a dramatic experiment is taking place here.

Rewilding.

In essence, the land is being returned to nature, leaving it to take care of itself, shaping its own living environment.

♪♪ -I'm really interested in this place.

I've heard this is a very, very unusual part of Scotland where we are now, and I'm guessing that is because it is a little bit wilder than the -- than the average.

-Yeah.

It's not manicured.

-Seems to be mainly nettles, but, um, I'd like to learn more about, obviously, the animals that are here.

-Yeah.

-Um, on a more spiritual level, I want to connect with the wildness in me.

Can you do that?

-Yeah, I'm sure we can find some time to do that.

I'd like to actually see that.

-Yeah.

-[ Both laughing ] -What was your childhood like?

Was that not wild?

Was that not crazy?

-Yeah.

No.

That was.

That was great.

Lots of fields, hedgerows, trees, playing around, building dens, lighting fires, getting chased by the farmer.

-I can see that Ben's journey is going to be about him reconnecting to the wild.

But also, I think his childhood, too.

Time to get this show on the road.

Do you like birds?

-Yes.

Yeah, absolutely.

-Alright.

Do you like the dark?

-I'm learning to love the dark.

-You ready to be rewilded?

-[ Laughs ] Arrrrr!

-[ Laughs ] Go on then, let's go.

♪♪ The first stop for Ben on his return to the wild is to help me in capturing some footage of a bird of prey that rewilded itself back into the Scottish landscape -- the osprey.

So I'm hoping that these guys are still hanging around and we can capture them, but we'll see what the state of play is when we get there.

We've crossed from Perthshire into neighboring Angus to visit a nature reserve where, after two fallow years, three chicks have been successfully reared this summer.

If you have a look into that island in the middle... -Yeah.

-...I can see one of the ospreys.

Can you see it?

-Oh, wow.

He's gone into profile.

Beautiful.

-The ospreys surprised experts when, in the 1950s, they began to return of their own accord after years of absence due to persecution and habitat destruction.

Surely a perfect inspiration for our wannabe rewilding man.

Not that he's showing any signs of his wild side just yet.

-I just got to do this.

Sorry.

It's just really annoying me.

There we go.

There we go.

Yeah.

-Perfect.

Thank you, Ben.

We're gonna look after each other, haven't we?

Yeah.

The shot that I'm looking for, and I'm hoping that you can help me by being my spotter, is getting the male coming back and feeding the chicks.

So that's one of the chicks on there now.

-That's a chick?

-That's a chick.

-It's massive.

-It's huge.

These magnificent ospreys are actually an African bird whose summer breeding residency in Scotland is fast coming to an end.

They and their chicks will soon be making the arduous journey south.

Any day now, they'll be thinking of heading off to Africa.

You're born in this beautiful loch.

Food brought to you.

-Yes.

-And all of a sudden... -The horrible realization that you're gonna have to learn to fly.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

And then your first -- your first trip is gonna be to Africa.

-Yeah, exactly.

It's like... -Dad.

Dad!

Dad!

Dad!

Dad!

Wait a minute.

Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish.

Fly to Africa.

What's this?

[ Both laughing ] Dad, can we just do Gibraltar this year?

♪♪ ♪♪ You know, when I was at school, I had a really great teacher called Mr.

Bailey who was really, really into wildlife.

He'd get little, um, boxes and put them in, like, little runs in the grass so you could catch rodents and, you know, field mice and stuff.

-Yeah.

-We'd take plaster casts of animal prints and stuff like that.

-Yeah.

-If your teacher does that, you sort of take it for granted, you know, because you're a kid, you know?

Gonna take animal casts again.

-Yeah.

-Then you sort of get older and you realize how lucky you were, really.

[ Osprey chirping ] -Right.

Can you hear that?

-Yes.

-Beep beep beep beep.

-Yeah.

-There'll be a lot more vocal when the adult comes in.

-[ Chirping ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -Osprey.

-Here we go.

-Oh, he's gonna dive.

Has he dived?

No.

Ah!

Missed him!

[ Both laughing ] He's coming around, he's coming, he's coming, he's coming!

-He's not got anything.

-Uh, no.

-He's coming around.

He's looking.

♪♪ -Lovely.

-That was a, um... -It's a good... -Shopping trip, wasn't it?

That was just having a little look.

See what... -That was kind of... I'll just see what's around, I think.

-Yeah.

-By the end of these three days, Ben, we're gonna make an amazing team.

-I sense an underlying threat.

-[ Laughs ] As we wait, Ben tells me about playing the criminologist Professor T, a role that clearly resonates with him.

♪♪ -The character is obsessive compulsive.

You know, he's on the -- He's on the autistic spectrum.

He's just a really, really fascinating character to play.

-Yeah.

-The OCD thing interested me, particularly because I have OCD myself, and I had OCD very badly in my 20s.

When I say very badly, it was like... It was kind of sort of a bit out of control at times.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-How so?

-In that, I mean, I think maybe all OCD is really an attempt to sort of control anxiety by trying to control the world around you in some ways.

With me, it was obsessively counting things or ordering things, and I had cognitive behavioral therapy to help, and it really has helped me... deal with it a lot.

It's dialed it right down.

So that really fascinated me, was to play a character with OCD because I thought, "I can learn something about myself as well while I do it," you know?

-Okay.

-Oh, look, here we go.

Is he gonna -- -Oh, you're a good spotter.

You are a good spotter.

-Thank you.

Wow.

-Yeah, that's the adult.

Thank you.

-Wow.

♪♪ This is ridiculous.

The size of that fish.

-Yeah.

You see?

And the fish is still alive.

It's wiggling.

♪♪ They can capture a fish nearly the same weight as them.

Where's he gone now?

Where's he gone now?

-In the back of the tree on the first island.

He's coming around.

Coming around again.

-Yeah.

So sometimes what he does is he keeps hold of the fish... -Yeah.

-...to try and entice the babies to fly.

So, "Chase me, get your wings."

♪♪ Look at that.

-Brought it right in.

♪♪ -This is an administrative nightmare -- getting this fish to this juvenile here.

I don't know how he's gonna do this.

♪♪ He's got himself in a right tangle there.

Hasn't he?

-He has.

♪♪ -Oh.

There he's got it.

There he goes.

-He's off.

He'll come back.

He'll come back because he's got it in his talons.

-He's gonna bring it to her.

He's using it like a lure, right?

-Yeah.

Kind of.

-To try and sort of get them to... -He's really working hard.

Panting like mad.

♪♪ That's the nest.

-That's the nest right up there.

-Isn't that cool?

-That's amazing.

♪♪ -Is this good enough for you?

-No, I'm absolutely not staying here.

No, I'm going back to the Marriott.

Thank you so much.

-Come on.

-It looks amazing.

It looks amazing.

It looks like a mixture of a sort of witch's cottage from a fairy tale, a sort of an animal hide, a truck and a greenhouse.

-Have you ever stayed in anything like this?

-Funnily enough, no.

[ Both laughing ] No.

I rarely call up and say, "Have you got something that looks like a shed on wheels with a greenhouse at one end?"

-Do you want to take a closer look?

-Come on.

-You lead the way.

-Ah, yes.

It's really inventive, isn't it?

I mean, it's on some sort of trailer, right?

I mean, I think I could probably touch both walls.

It's fantastic.

It's beautiful.

I love the way it's done.

I can't see a trouser press.

Woodburner... -You like it?

-...is a thing of tremendous glory.

The Tasman 4500... [ Both laughing ] ...also lives up to its reputation.

This is fantastic.

I tell you what.

Why don't you stay for supper?

-Are you serious?

-Yeah.

I'll cook you supper.

I mean, I've got a -- I've got the facilities.

-Okay.

Right.

Are you a good cook?

-No.

[ Both laughing ] -Never mind then.

As part of Ben's wish to reconnect with the wild, my plan is that tonight, I'll be leaving him to fend for himself.

No phone signal, no running water.

And there's a bit of a woodland walk to the loo.

But for now, I'll stick around and help get the fire started.

[ Animal honking ] -Um, what's that sound?

-That's geese.

Greylag geese coming over.

-I'm not kidding you, for a moment, I thought that was wolves.

I'm gonna prep my veg.

-Okay.

♪♪ -The bane of, um, kebabing vegetables... -Yeah.

-...is that everything cooks at a slightly different rate.

I speak merely as a man who's ruined many vegetable kebabs.

-Is the fire to your liking, sir?

-That is really impressive.

That's burnt down really nicely.

-Good.

-Torching my face.

Darling, didn't you have eyebrows before you went on that trip with Hamza?

No, it was pretty much just this big melted one that I've got now.

I think I've managed to actually cook the skewer and not the vegetables.

Have you tried any of it yet?

Is any of it cooked?

-The onions are amazing.

-I cheated slightly by choosing things that it didn't matter whether they cooked or not.

Oh, wow.

That courgette.

-I wouldn't have the ***** to do this.

-Oh, my goodness.

-Is it nice?

-That is so good.

-You certainly get that smoky flavor coming through.

-This is pretty good.

-Actually it is.

-I mean, it's really surprisingly good.

-Yeah.

-[ Laughs ] -Cheers, bud.

♪♪ As the sun begins to set, we take an evening stroll.

If I'm not mistaken, that's a buck and a doe.

-That doe knows that we're here?

-Yeah.

Can you see how she just put her head up?

-Yeah.

-Now, one fun fact about roe deer.

They do a thing called delayed implantation.

The female will mate with maybe five, six different males.

-Yeah.

-She chooses the sperm.

She carries it for two, three months.

-Wow.

-And then come at the beginning of the year, she will implant into her womb and then a baby will start coming through.

-You know, spread your chances.

-"Fine, I'll settle for him, then."

-Yeah, yeah.

-Yeah.

That kind of thing.

[ Cow moos ] -That was a cow, right?

-That was a cow.

It was indeed.

Alright, come on then.

-Can we see bats?

-We can definitely do bats.

-Can we do bats?

-Serious?

-Yeah, I love bats.

♪♪ -If you put your thumb with your fingers and rub like that... -Uh-huh.

This -- This is a wind-up, right?

-No, I promise you.

[ Laughs ] We're trying to mimic the sound of a moth or an insect, like, beating its wings.

They'll fly in and just check out what it is, and then they'll fly back out again.

There's one.

There it is, there it is, there it is.

♪♪ Isn't that cool?

-It's so cool.

It's gone past again.

There he is.

There he is.

-I've got a bat detector with me.

-Of course you have.

-I think these are soprano pipistrelles.

And they normally start making echolocation around 45 to 50kHz.

-Can I stop doing this?

-Yes, yes.

Here he comes, here he comes, here he comes.

[ Bat chittering ] Oh, there.

That one.

Did you hear that?

-Yes.

Absolutely.

-Did you hear that?

So that's 50.

Bang on 50.

-Yeah.

♪♪ -Did you know that bats lactate?

-Have you never had bat cheese?

-Well...[ Laughs ] -That's what I was cooking.

It wasn't Halloumi, by the way.

[ Owl hooting ] -Do you hear that?

-Owl.

-Yeah.

Tawny.

-Tawny owl.

-Yeah.

So I can call to it, and it will call back.

-Go on.

-[ Imitates owl call ] [ Owl hooting ] -Okay.

How's it go?

[ Blowing ] [ Imitating owl call ] -Oh, yes, Ben.

-[ Imitating owl call ] -Check you out.

Well done.

[ Owl hooting ] I think it responded to you.

-Wait a minute.

-I think you got a response.

-[ Imitating owl call ] -That tawny owl was probably thinking, "Who the hell is in my territory?"

♪♪ I think it's time for us to hit the hay.

Right.

Catch you tomorrow.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Sweet dreams, buddy.

-Yeah.

Sweet dreams, yourself.

-Take care.

-Come back!

-[ Laughing ] ♪♪ -Reality bites because I've got to [laughs] I really have to go to the loo, uh, before I go to bed.

And that's quite a long way off in the woods.

I feel like I've spent all day watching animals.

And now it's the animals' turn to watch me.

♪♪ Okay.

There's your loo right there.

And there's what I've got to flush it with -- some sawdust.

[ Laughs ] Okay.

See you on the other side.

I have to say, I actually quite -- I actually quite liked that.

I can't pretend there aren't one or two noises outside, which are slightly -- well, slightly freaking me out, but, uh, I'm gonna sign off and, uh... see you... See you all tomorrow.

[ Animal sounds ] ♪♪ -Morning, bud.

-Good morning.

-How are you doing?

-Uh, well, I've been up for about eight hours.

-Serious?

-I did wake up quite early, 'cause no there are no curtains, as you can see.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, but, you know, I really, really loved it.

I really loved it.

If I've got one other complaint... -Oh, okay.

Okay.

-A military helicopter went over and scared the life out of me.

-Right.

-For a moment, I felt like, I don't know, maybe how you feel if you are a wild animal and humans come by.

It really -- It was a really threatening sort of presence.

-Yeah.

-You know?

Like, "That's a big dangerous thing."

-That gives you a good perspective of what wildlife goes through.

-An interesting perspective.

What they go through.

-Cool.

Right.

Come on then.

-Yeah.

Great.

♪♪ -Thanks to a fantastic rewilding project, Bamff is synonymous with a creature last seen in the UK in the 16th century -- the Eurasian beaver.

And because of their reintroduction, we can get a glimpse of what the landscape of Scotland would have looked like back then.

-Oh, wow.

There is something... seriously industrial going on here.

Look at this.

-Yeah.

-Check out the dam.

-Let's have a look.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

-I mean, that is massive.

-Basically, two beavers did all of this.

To the human eye, this looks like a mess, wouldn't you say?

-I would -- Wouldn't be the pond I'd build, but... -Yes.

But they designed this perfectly.

-Uh-huh.

Where are the beavers now?

-They're up the bank, up there in their lodge.

-Why do they build a lake like this?

-They feel a lot safer on water.

Now, what they want to do is they want to flood the area so that they can have access to all the trees that they need to feed on.

They're herbivores.

They don't eat fish.

They eat the inner bark.

They eat the leaves, the suckly bits, the juicy bits.

But obviously, if it's... What?

15 feet up, 16 feet up, they can't climb it.

So the easiest thing to do is they start gnawing at the bottom.

Timber.

-Bring it down.

-And when they fell that tree, they can drag bits of it using the water.

-It's logging basically.

-Yeah, that's exactly it.

As they start gnawing through the trunks... -Yeah.

...they don't go all the way through and let that kill them.

-Right.

-So what they do is they let the wind help them out.

-Yeah.

Were the beavers introduced here or...?

-Yes.

So this estate.

It's an amazing estate.

They want to rewild majority of this state.

-This is rewilding.

-At its best.

-Yeah.

-At its best.

-What strikes me as different about this rewilded estate is the number of dead trees.

That must again create huge amounts of habitat for insects and butterflies.

-So this is why dead trees are good.

We don't need to get the chainsaw out and clean it up.

-What is it about humans?

We love things neat, don't we?

I'm tidying something up as I'm saying it.

-Yeah.

-I'm moving a stick off the... -Yeah, we want order.

We want to have a grip on the landscape around us.

-How do we get to see -- see the beavers?

-They come out at night.

They're nocturnal, so we need to come back later on.

Probably around 6:00.

-Ah, okay.

-As we have a bit of time to kill before this evening's beaver hunt, I thought I'd take Ben back to his school days.

Inspired by his teacher's mammal boxes, we're going to set a modern version -- the camera trap -- on the edge of some woodland near Blairgowrie, to hopefully capture some footage of the local residents.

♪♪ -Oh, wow.

So, what is this?

-Uh, it's my friend Bob's photographic hide.

And I know you might think it's a bit cheating, but I thought -- -Just a little bit.

-Just a little bit.

But I thought we'll maximize our chances to actually see something.

-And it's legit, isn't it?

Because we're right here, right on the edge of a forest.

It's not like the animals... -You're not asking much for them to step out of their way to come to here.

And the reward for them is a little bit of food and we get a little bit of footage, hopefully.

See this little log here?

I'm gonna put a few sprinkles leading up to it.

-Yeah.

-And then some inside.

And I'm gonna just bung the camera right there and a little bit of this moss over the trap... -Yeah.

-...to cover the box up.

So to try and just camouflage it, make it look somewhat natural.

-Literally like something out of Wile E. Coyote of sprinkling the... -Yeah, yeah.

The aim is to get mice and voles.

So we'll see.

We'll just keep our fingers crossed.

We'll return tomorrow to check the footage.

In the meantime, it's back to Bamff, where it's going to be a first for yours truly.

Ben is about to enlighten me with a daily routine that changed his life.

-You know there's a type of meditation called visualization, you know, and often it'll start by saying, "Imagine you're in a verdant forest... -Yes.

with animals all around."

I mean... [ Both laughing ] You basically have to imagine that you are somewhere like this.

My first meditation session was in a doctor's office in Soho.

[ Laughs ] -Why do you do it?

-For me, I suffer a lot from anxiety.

My anxiety is... it just disappears when I meditate regularly.

That's the biggest benefit I get from it.

It's up there with eating, sleeping, hydrating, breathing.

It's fundamental to nearly all cultures.

It's fundamental to our culture.

You know, I mean, a bloke who goes fishing for a whole afternoon, that's not fishing, is it?

It's meditating.

This whole idea of rewilding, so similar to rediscovering the power of breath and meditation, something that's so fundamental to our animal selves.

♪♪ What we're gonna do is we're gonna sit comfortably, close your eyes and just breathe through your nose.

Just feel those sensations of the forest.

Feel the -- feel the scent on the air.

Feel yourself supported in your seat with the sound of the wind.

And feel that space all around you.

♪♪ When you breathe in... just give it a mental label "in."

And when you breathe out, just give the breath a mental label of "out."

♪♪ In.

Out.

Bring yourself back into this moment.

♪♪ Back into present awareness.

Open your eyes.

How was it for you?

[ Laughs ] -I just unwound.

I felt like I was being taken away.

-Mm-hmm.

-And then I come back and then taken away and come back.

But then, yeah, it's surreal.

-Could you visualize the space in front and behind?

-Yeah.

And I could imagine where we walked from the road, the other field, then the wind turbine.

-Yeah.

-And all the way.

When you said horizon... -Wow.

You imagined all of that?

That's cool.

Brilliant.

-What do your family think?

-My wife -- To begin with, she was like, "Well, oh, great.

Yeah.

So this is yet another reason why you're now not gonna be around to help me with all the stuff that needs doing around here, you know?"

"Well, you know, we're gonna give it a try."

I said, "Okay, we'll give it a try."

Now she comes up to me and says, "Have you meditated yet?"

-Really?

-Yeah.

She says, "Have you meditated?

I think you should go and meditate."

[ Both laughing ] -I can honestly say that was truly an experience of a lifetime.

I've never felt anything like that before.

And now I want to repay the favor.

It's time to see if I and the rewilding project can deliver a first for Ben and get him face to face with the nocturnal beaver.

♪♪ -So where's the, um, hide?

-The lodge.

-The lodge.

-If you have a look into that rhododendron bush over there, underneath it, you'll find the lovely tunnel.

There's actually five entrances.

From this angle, you'll be able to see any of them if they head up that way.

But I'm hoping they'll actually come this way here.

-I always thought that they like -- They built a lodge, you know, out of twigs and branches and stuff.

So is that -- is that what's inside that?

-Yes.

It's underneath there somewhere.

-Right.

Yeah.

-But they're using the main rhododendron bush as the front cover.

The first beavers were introduced to Bamff in 2002, and as the years have gone by, they've extended their territory, creating a wonderful wetland landscape in between the fields and the woods.

It might be a wait.

The one thing to do when they come out... we're silent.

A telltale sign is the water will start moving.

You'll get this "V" in the water like a boat.

Um, and what they're doing there is they're keeping their eyes, nose and ears just above the water level so they can smell, hear and see you.

♪♪ So, Ben... I can see water moving there just on the other side of that branch.

I certainly saw, like, a ripple.

♪♪ There's movement in the entrance.

I just saw him going down.

Did you manage to see it?

-I saw the ripples in the mouth there.

Yeah.

-Yeah.

Here we go, Ben.

Here we go, here we go.

I can see him.

I can see him.

♪♪ That might be one of the kids.

-Yeah.

♪♪ -Okay, I can hear it.

-Yeah.

-Can you hear it?

-Yeah.

-Your ears have started to tune in.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Can you see it?

-Yeah.

-Amazing.

-Behind the grass there.

There it goes.

You see?

On the grass.

Just moved between that gap that was behind this clump of... -I can't see it.

-It'll just be coming up.

I think he's gone.

I think he's gone through now.

-Do you think?

Was that exciting?

-Yeah, it was really cool.

-Yeah.

A little tiny glimpse.

-Yeah, yeah.

♪♪ -What we need to do is see if there's any bubbles that appear.

-Yeah.

-Because the bubbles will show us where they are.

♪♪ -Yeah, there it is.

Can you see it?

-Yeah.

♪♪ ♪♪ Where do you think it went?

-Behind that root ball.

-Can you see it?

He's gone down that channel.

-Gone the same way the other one went, right?

-Yeah, it did.

Why are they all heading up that way?

♪♪ Yeah, that water's moving.

Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes.

It's just gone under.

It's just gone under.

All I'm getting is, like, the tail end of them.

-Right.

Yeah, yeah.

-Which is really annoying.

-There's [indistinct].

-You gotta get that.

Yeah.

-Where is it?

Where is it?

There we go.

That's a baby.

-Yeah.

Oh, my God, look at that.

Look at that.

Oh, yes.

♪♪ That's one of the babies.

-It's massive.

-That's one of the babies.

-That's a -- Huge.

[ Beaver calls ] -Can you hear that?

-That's like that.

-Okay, okay, okay.

Another one.

Another one.

That's the adult.

That's the adult coming through now.

Coming through now.

Underneath the tree.

Here he comes.

There you go.

Oh, my God.

[ Sighs ] He's huge.

That's one of the adults.

♪♪ There's another one there.

♪♪ Look at that, Ben.

♪♪ Yes, Ben.

That is rewilding at its best.

-Yes.

-That was awesome.

Give me five, Ben.

Give me bloody five.

-Man, that was amazing.

♪♪ -It's extraordinary to think we are the first generation in over 400 years that can now see beavers in the wild in Scotland.

[ Birdsong ] ♪♪ It's our last day in Perthshire and time to discover if our camera trap from yesterday has delivered in capturing some footage.

And if so, of what?

I love doing camera traps because they just.

You never know what you're gonna see.

-Oh, this is a night one.

-This is a night -- Oh!

Something just scurried through.

-What was that?!

-I think that's a field mouse.

-Field mouse, right?

Whoa.

It's quick.

-Yeah.

-Well.

Hang on.

-Yeah.

-What's that tail of something?

-That's a tail.

-That looked big.

-I think I know what that is, actually.

-What?

-Ooh!

-You're kidding me.

-Yes!

-I've never seen one of those.

-Serious?

-I've never seen a red squirrel.

That's glorious.

Wow.

-Another one.

-Oh, beauty.

-Oh, it's on top of the box.

See, that's the benefit of having the moss on top.

-Blatant disrespect for your handiwork.

I love the way you can just see the tail.

-Yeah.

-You know, like peeping up above the grass.

Here it comes.

Oh, they're quick, aren't they?

-They are.

-A beautiful thing.

-Can you see he's got a little bit of darkness in his back?

A little bit as well.

-Yeah, it's like a stripe kind of thing.

-Yeah.

-Going down his back.

That's like something out of Disney, isn't it?

Brilliant.

[ Chittering ] -The technical term for that is a squirrel squabble.

Not a bad result, I'd say, for our camera trap.

♪♪ To end this gloriously hot final Perthshire day, We head for Scotland's longest river, the River Tay, and take to the water in a first for myself and Ben as we go paddle boarding.

-This is wild.

-This is the way that we should be investigating rivers.

♪♪ -You can do it, Ben!

-Yes, sir.

-Reminding us both of the wildness of youth when we were nimble and had a little bit more balance.

Whew!

[ Laughs ] The paddle boards are a great way to appreciate a different perspective of the wonderful Perthshire scenery, and for Ben they prove quite meditative.

♪♪ -The whole idea of moving to the countryside is to get more in touch with the wild side of life, because that's where our imaginations live.

You know, our imaginations don't live in a brick.

They live here in the woods.

The woods is the place that we always return to.

We return to it in stories.

And you know we want to return to it in our real lives.

♪♪ Woo-hoo-hoo!

♪♪ -Whoo!

-That was exhilarating.

I think we might have whooped.

-What makes you giggle?

What makes you laugh?

-This.

This makes me laugh.

I mean, I think, you know, I, um, you know, you can... It's funny, if you do comedy for a living, sometimes it -- it ruins humor for you.

-Yeah, yeah.

-But it hasn't been that way for me.

One of the reasons that I did it was I love being around funny people.

-Yeah.

-That was really, really good.

-Yeah.

Do you feel like you pick up from people, like, little bits and anecdotes or characters?

-I'm always on the lookout, particularly it's the things people wear, I find really, because, you know, suddenly you're in that spot and you've got to think, "How would this person dress?"

On the tube, that's one of the best... -Really?

-To spend your hours.

Oh, it's interesting.

-I didn't know you could wear a camping hat and turn ups.

And, I mean, it's just, it's great.

It's fantastic.

I mean, that's the kind of -- that's the sort of character stuff that I really love.

Do you know what I mean?

-Yeah.

Yeah.

♪♪ -I felt at the beginning, oh, you know, bring me to the wild place.

Take me to the wild place.

And I want to experience being wild.

And what I've realized is, actually, that's not the way to think about it.

We need to bring... We need to bring the wild place into civilization.

We need to create this wherever we are.

♪♪ -As the late summer sun slowly sets, our adventure in Perthshire has come to an end.

But there's always time for one last childhood indulgence.

-Okay.

Hang on.

I found a really good skimming stone.

-Alright.

-It's all about -- It's all about the selection of the stone.

-I'll let you go first, then.

-Okay.

-Okay.

[Laughs] -No pressure.

♪♪ -Four?

-Four.

-Okay.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven!

Hey!

-What?!

What?!

-Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

[ Laughter ] ♪♪ -So how was that, Ben?

Three days in Scotland.

-And don't forget the nights.

-Yeah.

[Laughing] -Three days in Scotland -- -I went through more emotionally during those nights than I did, you know, in a month's worth of days.

Yeah, it's been amazing.

At the beginning, I said I want to be rewilded.

-Yes.

-Um... -Do you feel like you've been rewilded?

-Definitely been rewilded.

And that's been about connecting with the relationship I had with nature when I was a kid.

When we want to get out into the wilderness, we're looking for so much.

Of course, we're looking to see "What's out here, what animals are out there?"

But there's a reason we want to connect with those animals.

We want that spirit.

We want to connect with that Part of us that is wild as well.

And for me, you know, up until now I've had meditation to do that, and now I've got another way to do it.

And I feel like I've been given the, you know, the keys to the kingdom.

-This is music to my ears, Ben.

It is absolute music to my ears.

Man, it's been a pleasure having you.

Thank you so much.

-It's been a joy.

Thank you so much.

-Cheers.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪