Actor, artist, and conservation activist James Murray MBE looks at the current crisis facing our rivers from pollution, overextraction and poor management.
Murray grew up in Hereford and is a passionate campaigner for improvements in river quality, including the River Wye. The river, which is protected for its importance to rare wildlife including endangered Atlantic salmon, is suffering ecological decline and under threat from agricultural run-off, sewage pollution, climate change and other pressures.
A lifelong fly fisherman, Murray founded Activist Anglers in 2023 to empower and educate anglers to protect their local waterways. James is an ambassador for the Atlantic Salmon Trust; he also hosts the acclaimed podcast The Last Salmon and is instrumental in Project White Hart, a pioneering salmon restoration effort for the Test and Itchen chalkstreams where he lives.
Murray, who has starred in The Crown and Masters of the Air, will be in conversation with investigative journalist Nicola Cutcher, who co-produced a documentary about the polluted state of Britain's rivers and is a lead campaigner for Friends of the River Wye.
Murray combines his passion for conservation with creativity. This event is also a chance to see one of Murray’s paintings from his Creatures of Light series, where he sank 10 canvases in key salmon rivers across the UK, including the Wye, during spawning season, retrieved them, then painted on them.
