The BBC Northern Ireland presenter and author Darryl Grimason has died after a period of illness.
He was known for presenting and producing wildlife, environmental and natural history programmes, including the archaeological series Earthworks and the fishing series The Big Six.
His brother Stephen Grimason said he was a naturally gifted broadcaster.
Adam Smyth, BBC NI interim director, said Mr Grimason was a “fantastic, flexible and adventurous filmmaker”.
He “always brought a great sense of excitement and enthusiasm to his programmes”, Mr Smyth added, “whether he was presenting underwater in the Waterworld series or sharing his love of fishing with audiences in The Big Six”.
As a reporter, Mr Grimason contributed to programmes such as BBC Radio Ulster’s Your Place And Mine and presented Dawn Chorus, Wild Week and special reports on BBC Newsline.
In 2019, he produced the BBC One NI documentary Life And Death On Heroin.
‘Very much missed’
Beyond his work with the BBC, Mr Grimason was the author of Reading the Water: A Life Spent Fishing.
My wonderful brother Darryl Grimason passed away this morning. A naturally gifted broadcaster, he presented and produced many natural history documentaries on BBC Northern Ireland, many still being rerun. He had a simple credo – “born to fish, forced to work!” RIP baby bro.
— Stephen Grimason (@StephenGrimason) December 22, 2022
Stephen Grimason added his brother had the principle “born to fish, forced to work”.
Mr Smyth said Mr Grimason was a popular staff member within the BBC and that he would be “very much missed”.
