Manchester’s Mayfield Park, a 6.5 acre urban oasis located a stone’s throw from Manchester Piccadilly Station, and the newest park in the city, was today the home of BBC Morning Live, the popular morning magazine show.
Hosts Gethin Jones and Helen Skelton swapped their Manchester studio for the great outdoors for the programme’s first-ever outside broadcast as part of BBC Wild About Nature Week.
Mayfield Park opened three years ago – the city centre’s first new park in over 100 years – transforming a neglected and unloved industrial site into a safe, clean, green urban park, containing 140 mature trees of 43 diverse species, 120,000 plants and shrubs, a play yard and lawns.
At the heart of the park is the River Medlock, which was previously hidden under a concrete culvery, and is now home to fish, ducks, geese, and even kingfishers.
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Described by many as “Manchester’s green lung” the park has won more than a dozen awards, including Green Flags in 2024 and 2025, which are awarded to the best green spaces in the UK.
Danny Williams, estates manager at Mayfield Park, said: “It’s been brilliant to welcome the BBC Live team to Mayfield – it’s a huge honour for us to host the show, and we are proud to be seen as an incredible location in a busy city centre, where people can come and connect with nature, helping them de-stress and help their mental health.”
Coinciding with World Mental Health Day on Friday 10 October, all this week until Sunday 12 October, the BBC will be exploring the many ways audiences can reconnect with and reap the benefits of the natural world around them as part of Wild About Nature Week.
Programmes across the BBC are getting involved in showcasing the joys of nature all week.
The BBC’s chief content officer, Kate Phillips, said: “I’m really looking forward to seeing all areas of BBC content unite to celebrate our first ever Wild About Nature Week. From Morning Live to The Archers, there will be something for all our audiences to enjoy to across the week-long celebration, and we hope it encourages everyone to get stuck into the nature around them.”
