Sir Tony Robinson has said he is not a “defeatist” who believes that television is dead, but he warned that it needs keep adapting to stay relevant.
The actor and presenter believes he has “the best job in the world” which he “wouldn’t change for an instant”.
Sir Tony told the Press Association: “It’s great that I still feel as interested, as inspired by it and as ambitious for my medium as I did when I first went into it as a little kid.”
Sir Tony Robinson on Hidden Britain by Drone (Pro Co/Channel 4)
Speaking about his career beginning in the 1970s, the Blackadder star, 71, said: “As soon as you stop growing and changing, you might as well pack up.
“When I started a television camera weighed about the same as the Isle of Wight – there’s so much we can do now that we’ve never been able to do.
“I could make a television programme all on my own, really, with my phone.”
He added: “As long as we need access and as long as television can operate… I am certainly not one of those defeatists that believes ‘Oh television is dead; we’re just going to look at stuff in our own time on laptops now’.”
The Time Team star, who returns for a second series of documentary programme Hidden Britain by Drone, which allows viewers a look at places across the country which are concealed from public view, said he is passionate about “any new way you can find of looking at history”.
Of the returning Channel 4 series, he added: “I think a programme like this demonstrates the kind of thing that telly can do and will continue to do so well.”
Hidden Britain by Drone (Channel 4)
Asked what is next on his agenda, he said: “My wife always says that my epitaph should be ‘This is the next thing’ – I am always looking out for the next thing.”
– Hidden Britain by Drone airs on Channel 4 at 8pm, Sunday August 5.
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