Mark Evans is a British veterinary surgeon turned television presenter.

Early and personal life

Educated at Warwick School, Evans failed to get the needed grades at A Levels the first time – he says due to completing restoration work on a Triumph Herald 13/60 convertible. He graduated from the Royal Veterinary College at the University of London, where he won the Professor Formston silver medal for surgery.

Veterinarian

Evans developed his career in private veterinary practice, mainly with dogs, cats, and horses in the Surrey Hills. He has written 12 books on animal care and welfare. He was the RSPCA's chief veterinary advisor between 2007 and 2010, causing some controversy in August 2008 after branding show dogs and dog shows as a "parade of mutants", resulting in the RSPCA withdrawing its support that year to the annual Crufts dog show.

Television

Evans' television career started in 1990 when he complained about an item on TV-am that made fun of fat pets, and was invited as a guest on the show giving advice to the owner of an obese cat. In 1994, Evans co-developed a new animal-rescue based television series with EndemolPet Rescue on Channel 4, becoming both presenter and an associate producer. Evans has since presented over 1,500 shows, including shows based around pets, wildlife, science and engineering.

Animals

Evans has worked as a presenter and producer on several animal television shows including Pet Rescue and Inside Nature's Giants. In 2013, Evans hosted a one-off documentary for Channel 4 called Dogs: Their Secret Lives. A full series followed, beginning on 19 August 2014, as well as a one-off live episode and a revisited episode, both airing in 2014. In September 2014, Evans began hosting Operation Maneater, a three-part series for Channel 4. It was revealed that, during the filming, Evans had been clipped by a crocodile, leaving him with a split lip and broken teeth. Evans said "For the last 10 months, I haven't been able to bite using my front teeth so have had to tear my food into chunks to eat".

Engineering

In 1999, Evans co-devised the workshop-based "Is Born" format for Discovery Networks Europe. Since then, he has co-produced and presented ten series for Discovery Home & Leisure (now Discovery Real Time) and are often repeated on Discovery's Quest channel. The shows have transmitted in over 70 countries around the world. He also co-devised and presented Dream Machines – a vehicle restoration series on Channel 5.

Filmography