[3][4] He was educated at Bitterne Park Secondary School,[5] Taunton's College[6] and the University of Southampton, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology.

Regional television programmes included: Through Two Cameras, The Wild Garden, The Wood Worker, The Disappearing Down, Jewels in the Sand, Wildfowl Seasons and The Keepers of the Forest.

[13] He formed the production company Head Over Heels with producer Stuart Woodman, making wildlife programmes for Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and the BBC.

In 2013, he presented a four-part documentary series entitled Secrets of Our Living Planet, which demonstrated the complex ecological relationships upon which apparently unconnected species, such as tigers and crabs, depend.

It included episodes on birds of prey, dolphins, crocodiles, great apes, elephants, foxes, ants, big cats, bears and penguins.

[26] Also in January he presented Chris Packham: In Search of the Lost Girl on BBC Two, in which he highlighted the impact of palm oil consumption on the rainforests of Sumatra.

[28] In March 2019, Packham presented, along with Liz Bonnin and Steve Backshall, four-part series Blue Planet Live.

[33] Shortly after, he co-presented a six-part series alongside stepdaughter Megan McCubbin titled Chris and Meg's Wild Summer.

[35] In August 2022, Packham co-presented with Megan McCubbin BBC's Earth Proms concerts at the Royal Albert Hall.

[36][37] Packham narrated the three-part BBC nature series Dogs in the Wild: Meet the Family, that aired from late December 2022 to early January 2023.

[40] The documentary, released in September 2023, saw Packham accompany two Just Stop Oil protestors and film them daubing the headquarters of Policy Exchange with paint.

[63][64] Packham co-founded Wild Justice with Mark Avery and Ruth Tingay in February 2019,[65] a not for profit company limited by guarantee which aims to ensure that the legal system in the UK protects wildlife.

[68] In December 2014, Packham was voted "Conservation Hero of the Year" by readers of Birdwatch magazine in association with the online BirdGuides website for his work in publicising the illegal slaughter in Malta of millions of migrating birds.

[70][71] Packham's memoir Fingers in the Sparkle Jar, published by Ebury Press in April 2017, was voted the UK's Favourite Nature Book in a poll run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in January 2018.

[75] In 2009, during an interview with the Radio Times, Packham suggested that the giant panda was too expensive to save and "should be allowed to become extinct" so that funds could be redistributed to protecting other animals and habitats.

[83] In 2014, he self-funded a film crew to produce a series to highlight the mass killing of migrating birds by hunters in Malta.

[89] Later in 2015 Packham wrote an article in BBC Wildlife magazine complaining about the silence of many of Britain's leading conservation organisations on the issues of fox hunting, badger culling and hen harrier persecution.

The event raised awareness of the loss of wildlife in the UK with around 10,000 people turning up to march from Hyde Park to Downing Street.

[97][98] Packham commented that the attack was an escalation in the harassment he has received over some years, and that discovering dead animals, including foxes and badgers, tied to his gate was now a "normal occurrence".

Between April 2020 and November 2021, the website Country Squire Magazine published several articles, videos and tweets attacking Packham.

He sued for defamation in the High Court, and in May 2023 Judge Pushpinder Saini ruled that all the allegations were false and defamatory, and awarded him damages of £90,000 plus costs.

[108] For over ten years Packham has been in a relationship with Charlotte Corney, owner of the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary, although the couple live separately.