The news that Ray Mears is to bring back classic ITV nature series, Survival, is most welcome. Why? Because Ray Mears is a very engaging presenter and it means that there will be more nature programmes on television. It also gives ITV the opportunity to challenge the BBC's current terrestrial monopolisation when it comes to nature programmes. Yes, there are excellent digital channels like National Geographic Channel, Discovery and Eden, but the BBC, with its Attenboroughs and Nature's Big Things, is still a bit untouchable. Until now. Here comes Survival. Erm, what is Survival again?

We're so used to flashy photography, super-clear and super-slow shots of animals doing their thing and wildlife presenters being smiley and clean and bouncy, but back in 1961 - astonishingly the year Survival started - these things were concepts that might as well have been from another world. Humans just weren't clean in the 1970s.

I remember growing up with Survival and, thanks to the camera technology of era, I distinctly remember shots of elephants and wildebeests that were very grainy and very distorted. Like another great ITV show from the time, hard hitting current affairs show World In Action, these grainy images are synonymous with my childhood years.

Unlike BBC efforts, I remember Survival to be dirty, a bit grimy and rough around the edges, with actual people with beards (some of them men) with MASSIVE cameras on their shoulders walking through various African savanna.

The ITV website lays it down in even more detail. It says: "Hugely popular, the documentaries pioneered wildlife camera techniques and helped introduce the animal kingdom to mass audiences on television. Peek into life within an African termite hive or be transported to the Mountains of the Snow Leopard in the 1990s. Survival also highlights the devastating after-effects of an oil spill in the Shetland Isles."

It also goes onto explain that the very first show was a look at how World War II bombsites in London were becoming a breeding ground for all sorts of flora and fauna. The show was also nominated for an Oscar in 1978.

So it has an illustrious past and I wish I could find a clip to post here, but, despite everything else and much more being on Youtube, there was nothing. The new Survival, with Mears at the helm, will be very nice to look at and be very slick and feature amazing photography. But I hope it gives a nod to its heritage. Perhaps not with grainy images, but with its pioneering spirit.