Episode 1 Dick 'N' Dom Go Wild

This show features highly trained professionals working with dangerous, unpredictable animals.

So don't try anything you're about to see!

'Did you know that now, right now,

'there are people all around the UK who are

'working their socks off to help wounded wildlife and poorly pets?'

DOG BARKS

'And we've managed to get VIP passes for willing helpers to get stuck in

'at the busiest vets, wildlife sanctuaries and rescue centres.'

Rats!

'It's tough and dirty work, but somebody's got to do it.

'On today's show, Fraser and Rory set sail for

'a wildlife experience of a lifetime.'

Look at that one! Look, look! They're all diving in!

'Chloe and Billijo turn vet assistants

'and tackle an edgy eagle.'

-Is it quite painful, then?

-Nah.

'And Dick is in the race of his life

'when he takes on tiny Tony the tortoise.'

That's it! Good lad.

Who is that?

It's Annette.

I was told to bring along a pair of wellies, waterproofs and Annette.

-You were told to bring along wellies, a waterproof and A NET.

-Oh.

Yeah. Today on the show we've got a couple of lads

who are going to be helping out with a leading research programme

that tracks the movement of some pretty special wild seabirds.

This is why I'm here,

at a harbour in North Berwick dressed like a banana.

I don't know why I'm wearing this, though,

the weather forecast today is moderate to good.

'Meet Fraser and Rory.

'They're up for tackling anything - just about.

'Rory is a right animal lover.

'But he's not keen on big, flappy birds.'

I like all the animals, really. It's just birds that swoop.

Some birds are very swoopy and a bit noisy.

'Fraser once saved a trapped hedgehog,

'but he's wary about hairy monkeys.'

I was eating my ice cream

and then a monkey came up behind me

and swooped down and stole my ice cream.

'A head-spinning "shiver me timbers" adventure awaits these two.

'Onwards to the east coast of Scotland.'

Rory, Fraser, hi. Welcome to the show.

So, you're a monkey hater and you hate swooping, flappy birds, right?

-Yep.

-OK.

Now, which of those two different creatures

do you think we're focusing on today? Monkeys or seabirds?

-Erm.

-Come on, it's not a difficult question. We're on the coastline!

-Seabirds.

-There's not exactly going to be

monkeys flapping about here, is there. Seabirds.

What we're going to do is conquer those fears today,

make you love flappy seabirds. And you're going to get a chance

to do something only a handful of people have done.

-Does that sound good?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

'This is Bass Rock, a real wildlife wonder of the world.

'Just off the east coast of Scotland,

'it's the perfect place for a sensational, seafaring, Go Wild day.

'Now, these aren't white cliffs.

'These are white gannets, an incredible 150,000 of them.

'There are more here than any other rock on the planet.

'Bass Rock has been owned and protected by the family

'of Sir Hew Hamilton-Dalrymple for over 300 years.

'You need special permission to go anywhere near this place,

'And we're hoping to get our boys VIP passes to join up with

'the research team who actually work on Bass Rock.

'First, an appointment with Scottish seabird centre guide, Maggie.'

So, Maggie there's a big screen and a remote control.

-What's all this about?

-This is the Bass Rock.

This is happening on the Bass Rock as we look at this screen just now.

'Talk about a bird's eye view.

'This top technology allows the team here

'to complete important gannet research from a distance.

'The cameras are so good they can spot a fly on a bird's beak.

'What a way to help Rory get to grips with big, flappy seabirds.'

So, Rory, this must be a dream come true.

Look, you're really close to wildlife, live, right now,

but you're not even getting pecked at.

-Is this good?

-Yeah, it's great.

Is it weird, Fraser, seeing the colossal amount

of white birds on that rock?

Yeah, it's amazing.

Boys, your job today

is to give a name

to every single one of these gannets on the rock.

Right?

Start. Just hold that frame, there. That one?

-Bob.

-That one?

-Joe.

-That one?

-Fraser.

-That one?

-Rory.

'All right, lads, enough name calling.

'Let's get ready for the adventure of a lifetime,

'because you're going to be the first ever junior researchers

'to join the experts on the brilliant Bass Rock.'

'Later, the boys journey to a close-up encounter

'with thousands of giant stinky seabirds.'

It's huge, and it smells quite a lot.

'But first, Dick is in the North East of England

'and has two new vet assistants on his hands.'

Here at Eden Hill vets,

they look after a variety of pets with various problems.

But it's not your average vets.

No. They also look after wounded wildlife.

Luckily, today they've got two extra members of staff.

Well, I say lucky. Let's have a look.

'This is Chloe and best mate, Billijo.'

BOTH: Woo!

'Chloe likes most things animally,

'and is desperate for her own pet dog.

-'How desperate, Chloe?'

-Like, loads.

Good boy!

Even if my mum says, "Do you want a flatscreen TV?"

I say "No, I want a dog instead."

I've already got a flatscreen TV, anyway.

'Billijo loves her dog, Mercy. But really wants a big cat pet.'

I'd really, really like a pet tiger.

The white and black ones.

I think they're really cute. And a dolphin and a horse.

-What about a giraffe?

-Yeah, I like that as well.

-'These two normally only have Mercy for company.'

-Good girl!

'But today we've fixed up something much more colourful.' BOTH: Yay!

HE SNIFFS Ugh!

-Ah, Billijo, Chloe! How are you?

-Good, ta!

-Welcome to Go Wild.

-Thank you.

-Billijo, you've got a dog.

But you'd also like a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig.

-Yeah.

-Why?

I don't know. They're cute and fat.

-Now, you've got the dog, but Chloe, you haven't got a dog.

-Nah.

-Do you ever look after her dog?

-Sometimes.

Do you ever have to take your dog to the vet?

Oh yeah, we had to take her, one time.

I think it was something wrong with her paw, but Chloe came with me.

Right. What about working in a vets, would that be a nice idea for you?

-BOTH: Yeah.

-You'd like that?

-BOTH: Yeah!

-That's what we're going to do today.

-Ooh!

-Thank you!

That's a reaction! Right, you're going to need one of them,

-you're going to need that.

-Thank you.

And we're going to do some veterinary things. This way!

'Eden Hill is one of the busiest vets in the north east.

'Vet Jason and his team sort out around a thousand pets every month.

'Sounds busy and messy.'

'A wardrobe change might be in order.'

'Yep, that works.'

Welcome to the vets. This way, girls.

This is Billijo and Chloe, your new members of staff.

Hi, girls. Great timing.

We've got the first patient to give a quick check over to.

-Do you want to come this way?

-BOTH: Yeah.

-Hi, Anna.

-Look, girls.

GIRLS: Awww!

'This is Honey,

'a cute, little, one-year-old Shih-Tzu dog with a headache.'

She's got a little lump on the top of her head

where unfortunately a tick bit her and her owners knocked it off.

'Honey's owners tried to remove the blood-sucking bug,

'but its teeth are still stuck in Honey's head,

'and the tick that attacked the poor pooch has caused an infected wound.'

-How do they get them?

-Basically, they pick them up from other animals

or from very wet land. The tick jumps on top and feeds.

'Poor Honey needs two operations today.

'One to remove the troublesome tick's teeth,

'and another to stop her having' unwanted pups.'

How can the girls help Honey, today?

Well, first, before any animal has an anaesthetic,

we always give it a check-up.

One of the things I'd like you to do is listen to the dog's heart.

'Out with the stethoscopes. We need to hear a healthy heartbeat.'

-Do you hear that?

-Yeah.

-Your go.

You put it on.

You're trainee nurses, you don't need my help.

Can you hear it? Thump-thump?

What we're listening for is that the heart's nice and regular

and there's no noises in between the heart sounds.

-No?

-No, there's not.

-So it's passed the check?

-BOTH: Yeah.

'And Jason agrees. Honey is cleared for the operation.

'Now the team must remove that itchy, infected lump.'

'And later, our girls get hands-on as Honey has her ops.'

-That way?

-Yeah, lovely.

'Over on the East Coast of Scotland,

'Fraser and Rory have set sail for Bass Rock.

'There's important seabird research to complete,

'and brave Rory is up for confronting his flappy bird fear.'

Getting close to the birds is a great opportunity

to get a bit more positive about swooping birds.

'Expedition leader, Maggie, briefs the boys on all things gannet.'

They're colonial birds, which means they like being together.

-They don't like to be on their own.

-Will the birds be friendly?

Well, gannets are not exactly friendly birds.

What they are, are territorial birds.

So, as long as we don't scare them. But that's not what we're there for.

We're there to enjoy the birds and learn.

There's one just flying across there, now.

You see how big they are? They've got these lovely black wing tips.

'Northern Gannets have a stunning wingspan of nearly two metres.

'Talking of stunning, check this place out, boys.'

It's amazing. I've never seen a rock,

an island so big with so many birds on it.

'Hey, we don't mess around, here. Ultimate VIP access, this.

'Time to get close up to the famous Bass Rock gannet,

'all 150,000 of them.'

Welcome to the Bass Rock, boys.

Here you are, the largest single rock colony for gannets in the world.

-What do you think? You're standing here.

-Um, well...

It's huge and it smells quite a lot.

It'll get worse as we head further up. Trust me.

'So, hold your noses, boys. No time to waste.

'There's a mountain of work to get through.'

'Later, Fraser and Rory get to grips with the gannets

'as the team race to complete their research work.'

What do you think? I bet you never thought

-you'd get this close to a gannet, did you?

-Not at all.

'Back at the North East vets,

'Chloe and Billijo are ready to help with Honey's surgery.

'The poor Shih-Tzu dog needs to have a painful infected lump

-'removed from her head.'

-Here she is.

'Before that, the team needs to prepare Honey for another op

'to stop her having unwanted pups.'

Who wants to do the clipping?

'Yeah, top effort! Billijo is shaving Honey's tummy like an expert.'

-That way?

-Yeah, that's lovely.

Now girls, I'm going to make the first incision in a minute.

There you go, ladies.

'Our new vet assistants take their positions, and Jason begins the op.'

How many of these operations run smoothly?

I would say, probably, 99.9%.

'Fingers crossed, she'll come through her two operations just fine.'

-Is it very simple?

-Does it look very simple?

It kind of looks simple, because you make it look easy.

Good, yes. That is the right answer.

'The first op's complete. Time for the girls to get hands-on, next.'

'And later they come face to face with Jambo the bateleur eagle.'

-How do you feel about getting that close to an eagle?

-Speechless.

'But first, Dick is floored by a cold-blooded challenge.'

MUSIC: "Eye Of The Tiger" by Survivor

DICK GRUNTS

Training for the big race?

-Yep, I'm well oiled up.

-You're certainly greasy.

Well, no pain no gain. Anyway, where's my opponent?

-He's here.

-No, he's not.

-He is. Look, there.

You've had me training for three months to race against a tortoise?!

Do not underestimate Tiny Tony, OK? He's stronger than he looks.

'A tortoise's shell is incredibly strong and it makes up

'about a third of its body weight.

'That's like a person carrying around

'ten house bricks on their back for life.'

Here you go. Bag of bricks. Come on.

-Fair is fair. It'll even it out a bit. Get it on.

-All right!

On your marks, get set, hang on a minute,

put this on your head. Good.

On your marks, get set...

PISTOL SOUND

..go! Come on, Tony.

'These tracks are carefully measured to scale,

'eight metres for Dick, and one metre for Tiny Tony.'

He's over the water bottle, and he's...

No, that way.

'This isn't about giving Dick the run around.

'Tortoises need regular exercise and open space

'if you're going to keep them as a pet.'

Will he get over the big stick? He's going over the big stick.

'And what Dick with his bricks doesn't realise is that tortoises

'are surprisingly nimble when they want to be.'

Get there! Yes!

We've got a winner. Yeah!

-You're joking!

-Winner!

-Can't believe I've been beaten by a tortoise.

Why not? Have you not read The Hare And The Tortoise?

-Well, I've read the pictures.

-Do you want your cabbage?

'Animal fans, Chloe and Billijo,

'are getting stuck in at a North East vets.

'Honey is about to have a painful lump removed from her head.'

Can you see the lump there, now?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Poor dog. Every time you touched this, the dog was yelping.

'First, Chloe shaves the target area...'

Thank you.

'..so Billijo can clean around the lump to prevent further infection.'

Wet all this hair all the way round to get it out the way.

-Is it hard to get it out?

-No, not particularly.

I just want to make sure I get it all out,

because I don't really want to have to operate on it again.

Who wants that?

-'At last, Honey is tick free.'

-Right, girls, that's all done.

'A brilliant first-ever doggy dissection for the girls.

'What do you think about a vet's life, Billijo?'

I were OK watching it.

But I don't think I'd be OK, like,

under the pressure what they are as they're doing it.

'And Chloe came through those early nerves

'to become a right hands-on vet assistant.'

I were a bit worried before the operation

because I thought I were going to be really squeamish.

But when I went in there and me and Billi had to shave its fur off,

and stuff like that, I wasn't too bothered.

'With Honey still under the effects of the anaesthetic,

'the girls are called to a very different kind of job.

'Check this fella out!'

-Right, girls, this is patient number two.

-Wow!

Jambo. What do you think that is?

-Is it a hawk?

-Close.

-Eagle.

'That's right, Billijo.

'Jambo is a bateleur eagle with an infected foot

'that is concerning Jason.'

How do you feel about getting that close to an eagle?

-Scared but excited.

-Yeah?

-Speechless.

-Speechless?

'Bateleur means "tumbler" in French.

'They get their name from their acrobatic aerial style.'

'Our able vet assistants must help Jason take a swab sample

'from Jambo's injury.'

If you just hold that like that, that would be brilliant.

'This could be easier said than done.'

'Later Jambo gets flighty.

'And fingers crossed as Honey comes round from her operation.'

Aw, she's proper shaking!

'One mile off Scotland's east coast, Fraser and Rory

'are on an incredible adventure.'

I've never seen a place like it before.

'They've just arrived on Bass Rock,

'home to the world's largest rock colony of northern gannets.'

I'm a bit nervous, but it's really fun now.

It's really nice to be here.

'And there's smelly research to complete.'

It smells a bit like dung.

'Oh yes. There's about one million poos plopped every day here.

'That's not going to put off

'Dr Keith Hamer and our team, though.'

Hi, guys. We're looking to see where the birds go when they're at sea.

We know a lot about what the birds do when they are at land,

but what's really important is where they go and how they get food

when they're away from the nest, at sea.

How far do the birds travel?

The furthest we've recorded a bird going

is right up to the coast of Norway

and that's a round trip of over 1,000 kilometres.

'And Keith knows all of this because he's been attaching

'little tracking devices to some of the birds

'so he can follow them wherever they go.'

The bird goes about its normal life, goes away to sea, forages,

gets food, comes back to the nest, and then we take the device off it,

download the data, and we can see where it's been.

-So, you OK to help with that?

-Yeah.

-OK, brilliant.

'This is going to be a tough task.

'Look at all those birds!

'Remember there are around 150,000 gannets

'and only about 20 are wearing the tracking devices.'

Some birds have got a coloured ring on a leg.

They're the birds that we've put these devices on.

-Oh, there's one! Right there.

-Whereabouts?

-Just there. The one...

-Oh, I see! Fantastic. Well spotted.

We'll go to him.

'Wow! That's a one in seven and a half thousand spot, Rory.

'Time to work fast. These are big, feisty birds.'

You need to sit with your knees together.

'The team need to check its weight to make sure it's in good shape.'

I'll keep my hand on its beak.

That's the dangerous bit.

You just need to make sure that he's comfortable.

This is where you need those safety specs,

cos I'm going to let go of its head. Its weight is 3270.

'Just over three kilograms is about the same weight

'as three bags of sugar. A healthy weight for a young adult.'

OK, Rory. I'm going to put him on your lap.

'A few hours ago, Rory couldn't stand flappy feathered things.

'Now he's holding the UK's largest seabird.'

What do you think? I bet you never thought

-you'd get this close to a gannet.

-No, not at all.

Think your classmates will be amazed...

-Yeah.

-..when you say you've had a Gannet in your lap?

'Job done. Extreme wildlife work of the highest order, this.'

The gannet was really soft.

Never seen so many birds in my life before.

That was absolutely amazing.

I could do this all over again.

'And it gets even better later

'when our boys see the greedy gannets in spectacular action.'

-He just got a fish!

-You see? He just swallowed the fish.

'But first, I spy wild horses 'and I don't like it.'

This is terrible. Mate, we've got to do something about this.

There's horses just wandering around with no-one looking after them.

Dom, just try and understand some very simple words.

-What?

-For the last time these are wild horses.

They're a breed of horse called koniks, they are not domesticated.

-Ah!

-Konik's are very tough horses.

They can survive in very horrible conditions.

No horse shoes! Every horse I've ever seen has got horse shoes.

They usually get fitted by one of those furry fellas.

-Farriers.

-That's it.

How would you like to be running around a field in your own poo

-with no shoes on?

-Depends who's looking. But I haven't got hooves.

The koniks have got very tough hooves.

They can walk along difficult ground. Their hooves also trim themselves.

-When they get too long, they fall off.

-Sounds painful.

It really is. Excruciatingly painful.

Not a saddle between them.

'Animal-loving Billijo and Chloe have been getting top-level

'hands-on experience as vet assistants

'They've helped perform two operations on Honey the dog,

'and they're now attempting to help an eagle with an injured foot.

'But the big bird is getting a little bit flighty.'

'And yes, that is me, cowering behind Billijo and Chloe.

'Incredible this, though.

'Not every day you get an eagle-eyed view of such a majestic creature.'

-Look at his feet!

-See how they've gone red?

'Well spotted, Billijo.

'A bateleur eagle's feet turn red when they feel threatened.

'Jambo's got no idea we're trying to help him,

'but all of this is for his own good.'

What we're doing here is just taking a swab from this pus.

'Sounds revolting, but the sample will tell Jason

'exactly what kind of treatment the injury needs.'

Keep hold of that.

'Job done. Gripping vet assisting, girls.'

Dick hid behind me!

We just all went into corner, cos the wings were a bit big.

What's going to happen now?

You're going to have some paperwork to fill in

to send off to the lab. Or do you want me to deal with it?

It's all part of the job, girls, come on. It's 24/7.

-You can deal with it.

-That's very good of you.

There you are. You've been told.

-So, did you enjoy that experience?

-Yeah.

'Finally, it's time for the girls to check on old friend, Honey.'

Ah, there she is. Honey is wide awake once more.

Well, still a little bit sleepy.

All there is to do now, girls,

is take Honey back to her rightful owner.

Aw, she's proper shaking!

'That's because Honey is still a bit wobbly and drowsy

'after her operations.'

Thanks.

-You look good together.

-Yeah!

'But thanks to the girls' hard work, Honey is ready to go home.

'And owner Cameron and mum Lindsay can't wait to see her.'

There she is, Honey. All fit and better.

-Did everything go OK?

-Did everything go OK? Tell him, girls.

-Yeah.

Yeah, they did a grand job.

We'll take her home. Thank you very much.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye!

-Bye!

'Animal fixing at its very best. An eagle helped,

'and Honey home and happy.

-And there she goes. Have you enjoyed it, girls?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-What's been your best bit?

-Operation, it were really interesting.

-Would you like to work with animals more in the future?

-Yeah, definitely.

We can safely say you've had the full Go Wild experience.

-BOTH:

-Yeah!

'Rory and Fraser have been working hard getting to grips

'with gannets on the brilliant Bass Rock in East Scotland.'

-Pretty cool, aren't they?

-Yeah.

-'But the day isn't over yet.

'Maggie's got another surprise in store.'

Right, boys, you've seen the gannets close up.

You know what you're going to see now? You haven't seen them eating.

We're going to see them plunge diving,

and it's an incredible sight,

but we need to put some fish in the bucket

so we can throw this overboard for them.

'Throwing fish into the water is called chumming.

'Our pals aren't too keen on handling slimy fish at first,

'but they get stuck in, anyway.'

-Look at this!

-Ugh!

I'm sorry, fish. I might have to chuck you overboard.

'Chumming gives our research team

'a brilliant opportunity to study the birds close up.

'First, herring gulls come to snap up the nosh.'

Oh, yeah! There's a mob!

-'And then the gannets get wind of the grub...'

-Gannets, look!

'..and come crashing into the water from as high as thirty metres.'

There, see? We've got a gannet, already.

Oh yeah! He's just got a fish!

You see? He just swallowed a fish.

This is so cool!

'These birds can dive in at over 60 miles per hour.

'Their nostrils are inside the beak so water doesn't go up inside them.'

Whoa!

Oh, look!

So cool!

'And the high-impact speed dives mean that gannets can go deeper

'to catch fish that others can't.'

Did you see that? Did you see how deep that one went?

'And they swallow them whole. No messing. Down in one.'

Look at that one! Look, look, look! They're all diving in.

'Rory and Fraser, you've been

'first class hands-on wildlife researching wonders.'

'And check this out. They're even steering the team back to shore.'

-Have you done this before?

-No.

-Well, you're very good.

Boys, you smell of bird poo.

I bet they do.

There you go, boys.

So what gets me is that you came here

and you really didn't like big, flappy birds,

and they don't get bigger than this do they?

-No.

-How big, with their wings out?

-Two metres.

-Two metres? That's bigger than that.

It's quite a learning experience. You learned a lot from being there.

-Yeah.

-And throughout your years of being on this planet,

was it one of the most exciting things you've done so far?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-It was?

'Go Wild-ing at its greatest.

'That's a flappy bird fear fixed forever.'

Not all this again.

I still can't believe that I was beaten by Tiny Tony.

So I've read The Hare And The Tortoise and I've got a cunning plan.

-Rematch?

-No. I'm going to race a hare.

-A hare?

-A hare.

Do the honours.

On your marks, get set...

You're going down, my son.

PISTOL SOUND

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd