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Sophie Lee returns to television

Sophie Lee, who made her mark as a television presenter in the 1990s, is returning to the small screen to front documentaries for the National Geographic Channel.

It is her first presenting role since the 90s.

The woman whose CV includes The Bugs Bunny Show and Sex with Sophie Lee has also enjoyed acting roles including Muriel’s Wedding, The Castle, Stingers, Blackjack, The Flying Doctors and Halifax FP. She also performed in ‘Spill the Wine’ with the band Freaked Out Flower Children and has a novel published by Random House.

For the National Geographic channel, Lee will front the natgeo presents brand, beginning with Silence Of The Bees. This doco tracks the mysterious plague sweeping hives across the US and Europe, wiping out almost a third of all bees.

“We take it for granted that supermarkets stock our favourite fruits year-round, but it takes an army of bees working on rotating shifts to pollinate all the crops and plants needed to make this happen. Now, with their colonies collapsing in the US and Europe, we could well face a shortage of fresh food. Silence Of The Bees is such an eye-opener,” Lee said.

Press Release:

Making a triumphant return to Australia’s small screen, actress, author and columnist, Sophie Lee, is set to tackle some weighty subjects as host of National Geographic Channel’s blue-chip documentary strand, natgeo presents, on Sundays in March and April.

In her first presenting role since the ‘90s, Lee will raise awareness of some topical issues that directly affect the Australian way of life. Silence Of The Bees on Sunday March 2 at 7:30pm AEDT tracks the mysterious plague sweeping hives across the US and Europe, wiping out almost a third of all bees – is Australia responsible for this global ecological disaster?

“We take it for granted that supermarkets stock our favourite fruits year-round, but it takes an army of bees working on rotating shifts to pollinate all the crops and plants needed to make this happen. Now, with their colonies collapsing in the US and Europe, we could well face a shortage of fresh food. Silence Of The Bees is such an eye-opener,” Lee said.

Meanwhile, global warming is a familiar, if somewhat intangible concept to many. Six Degrees Could Change The World on Sunday March 9 dissects the chain reaction triggered as temperatures rise, one degree at a time, to discover how life on Earth will change as it heats up.

March will also see her examine the ancient paragon of beauty, Queen Nefertiti, who also had a surprising impact on the modern cosmetics industry. In an Easter Sunday special, Lee also takes viewers into the town of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ and an enclave for the last Christians caught in the cross-hairs of a growing Islamic Fundamentalism and the entrenched Israeli fortress surrounding it.

In April, Lee will shed further light on the Logie award-winning mystery that gripped Australians half a century after the deaths of Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler, as well as dig up the dirt on the politicking and machinations that swirled around the building of Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge. Then, in the same week as Earth Day, Human Footprint explores the impact a single individual in our consumer-driven, packaging-obsessed society has on the world by physically laying out the amount of milk, eggs and other staples we consume throughout a lifetime.

“Australia and the world face some really important issues at this point in history, but it’s not all doom and gloom. One of my favourite documentaries among those I’m hosting is about one woman taking on the New York Fire Department and blazing a trail for women firefighters everywhere to work alongside and be treated equally with their male counterparts,” Lee said of Taking The Heat, premiering Sunday April 27.

With a career in film, television and theatre spanning twenty years, Sophie Lee evolved from a family favourite as host of the popular Bugs Bunny Show to an actress in iconic Australians films such as Muriel’s Wedding and The Castle. Starring in theatre productions such as Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll and The Virgin Mim, her television credits include roles in The Flying Doctors, Halifax FP and Blackjack.

Publishing her debut novel, Alice In La La Land, in 2007, Lee also puts her pen to good use with a fortnightly column in Sunday Magazine (in NSW and VIC).

As host of National Geographic Channel’s flagship documentary strand, Lee joins fellow alumni such as: Daniel MacPherson, William McInnes, Red Symons, Amanda Keller & Brendan Jones, Bridie Carter, Jay Laga’aia, Human Nature, Sigrid Thornton, Rebecca Gibney, Bryan Brown & Rachel Ward, Jack Thompson, Magda Szubanski, Alex Dimitriades, Deborah Mailman, Georgie Parker and Tara Moss.

Silence Of The Bees airs on Sunday March 2 at 7:30pm

6 Responses

  1. Yep, I am pretty sure she played saxaphone.
    The bee documentary is really good (and scary for the future). I may have to tune it to critique her voiceover skills.
    I hope it doesn’t sound like she is introducing cartoons like on her previous high quality work.

  2. And I stand to be corrected.

    According to my who’s who of Australian Rock Encyclopedia…

    “Freaked Out Flower Children
    Melbourne 1990-1996
    Played modern versions of 1960s flower power music.
    Members April 1991
    Nicole Love (BV)
    Gumpy Phillips (Guitar, Vox)
    Fiona Ruttelle (BV)
    Sophie Lee (Sax)
    Julian Tricky (Synth)
    One album titled “Love In”

    There ya go :p

  3. Heh, well David, I keep telling myself that my scary recall of 1980s pop music has got to be put to good use on The Einstein Factor one of these days. Keep chickening out though, lest I get put up against one of those guys that knows the part number of every component of every plane in World War II 😀

    Dree, I do remember the recorder thing, but I believe her on-stage role was playing saxophone.

    Happy to be corrected, though, so if you’re out there Sophie, let’s have the definitive answer 🙂

  4. Actually, it was the Recorder (yes recorder as in grade three..) and the song earned many a royalty overseas earning a lot for the songs original writers, but not its Flower Children performers.

  5. It’s a distant memory, but wasn’t Sophie the saxophone player in Freaked Out Flower Children? My memory tells me that she was certainly not the singer on this song.

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