Ella Al-Shamahi

Ella Al-Shamahi is an explorer, palaeoanthropologist, and evolutionary biologist turned stand-up and TV presenter, who has fronted science, natural history and archaeology programmes on the BBC, National Geographic, PBS and beyond! With an adventurous spirit and unafraid to get her hands dirty, Ella specialises in expeditions in politically unstable hostile territories like Yemen and Somaliland. In 2015 she was given the prestigious title of National Geographic Explorer. New for 2025, Ella has been announced to present HUMAN, a major 5-part BBC and PBS series. This exciting series uses a combination of archaeology, travelogue and reconstruction to tell the story of how we became, well, ‘us’: modern humans. Ella will follow in the footsteps of our ancient ancestors – visiting historical sites to meet experts who can help her unlock the secrets of our deep past. She is also making her mark in the podcast scene as host of the BBC World Services’s The Conversation – a podcast that brings women together who share an experience or expertise. She is also on her second season of BBC Radio 4’s Why Do We Do That. In 2019 she presented National Geographic’s Viking Warrior Women where during filming she discovered what might be the first evidence of a battle injury on a female Viking warrior! As well as this, Ella has presented multiple documentaries for Channel 4 including ‘What Killed the Whale’ which investigated a 40-foot sei whale washed up in… Edinburgh! In addition to her scientific work, Ella uses comedy as a tool to communicate complex scientific concepts to a wider audience. She has performed stand-up comedy internationally, including at the Bloomsbury Theatre, the National Geographic main stage, and Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She was a TED main stage speaker in 2019 where her talk on explaining dangerous places gained 2.5 million views. Finally her first book ‘The Handshake’ was a Times Book of the Year.