BBC presenter ditched arranged marriage and hijab to become TV star and next Attenborough

From having to wear flea-infested trousers for filming continuity, to sleeping in a rat-filled hut and going to the toilet in a basket over the side of a ship, the travels of a TV explorer are often far from glamorous. But for Ella Al-Shamahi, presenter of the hugely popular BBC2 series Human, these discomforts pale into insignificance compared to the personal journey she has been on.

Human, which is back on our screens at 9pm tonight, traces the origins of how our species, homo sapiens, came into existence. So it's incredible to believe that its presenter, a paleo-anthropologist, evolutionary biologist, writer and stand-up comic, was once a staunch creationist who thought Charles Darwin had it all wrong.

Ella, who was a devout Muslim in an arranged marriage at the time, grew up in Birmingham with a Yemeni parents. When she turned seven, she insisted she start wearing a hijab - against her mother's wishes.

Her one woman mission at university (she studied at UCL and Imperial) was to prove the evolutionists wrong. Becoming a missionary in her community at the age of 18, she had all the zeal and passion of youth but admits now that her creationist views, while deeply held, were ultimately wrong.

"I realise how bizarre it must seem that the person on TV explaining evolution and where we as humans came from, actually believed in creationism and once set about trying to academically disprove evolution," she laughs. "But when you come from a community where that is what you are told all your life - you believe it.

"It sounds ridiculous but I arrived at university having been told that evolution was a lie. I wanted to destroy the theory of evolution and prove scientifically that it must be wrong. Everybody in my community at that time thought the same although it is different now."

Ella, now 41, was in an arranged marriage at the age of 21, to a man "a few years older", organised by her Imam. "It was arranged, not forced. I was all for it," she says. "We had three chaperoned meetings and that was it. He was aware I wanted to study and didn't want to start a family straight away and that was ok.

"But we didn't really know each other at all and ultimately we weren't compatible."

Five years later Ella realised "that Darwin bloke had been onto something after all" - a gradual realisation rather than a lightbulb moment.

She ditched her lifelong held religious and 'scientific' beliefs and left her marriage by mutual agreement. She also took off her hijab.

"It felt terrifying," she admits. "I remember taking it off and going to a petrol station to see people's reactions. Not a nightclub, a garage. What was I thinking would happen?

"Of course nobody took any notice of me so my hair clearly wasn't as amazing as I thought it was! I joke about it but actually it was a very dark and difficult time, saying goodbye and leaving behind everything I had ever known. I lost childhood friends, my community, everything I had held dear. Luckily my parents and siblings were supportive but it was like starting my life again."

That new life involved dipping her previously covered toes into the murky world of online dating.

She says she had some "absolutely disastrous" Tinder dates. "I just didn't know how to act with men," she smiles. "I had always been taught to avert my eyes. I couldn't even make eye contact, let alone flirt with a man.

"A well-meaning male friend suggested I touch a man's arm now and again when I was talking. So I did this every ten minutes on the dot so rigidly, no wonder I was ghosted. All I could think was; How could someone do this to me? Aren't they afraid they are bringing shame on themselves? I was treating casual dates like interviews for marriage."

Meanwhile, Ella's career went from strength to strength as she undertook expeditions to politically unstable, hostile and disputed territories including Yemen and Somaliland.

She fronted her first BBC show, Neanderthals - Meet Your Ancestors, in 2018 and has since presented science, archaeology and natural history programmes across different networks.In 2015 Ella was given the prestigious title of National Geographic Emerging Explorer.

She's also making her mark in the podcast scene as the host of BBC's The Conversation - a podcast that amplifies women's voices and is a successful stand-up who has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

"Like a lot of people who have been through dark or difficult times, I use humour to get me through it and understand it," she explains of her drive to perform comedy. "I do the Edinburgh Festival every three years and draw on my past experiences."

But it is her passion for bringing science and biology to a mass audience that really excites her. Even if the reality is far less glamorous than people would like to believe.

"It is the BBC and everything is done on a budget," she stresses. "We are not staying in the best places. During this latest series of filming there was a major flea infestation. My trousers were completely infested and I was bitten to death but I had to keep wearing them for filming continuity.

"Then when we arrived in the United Arab Emirates I must have picked up a virus from somewhere because I fainted and crashed to the floor at passport security. When I came to I rapidly started speaking in Arabic because I was terrified they might think I was a drug mule.

"In Indonesia I had to sleep in this hut and I kept hearing noises at night. It turned out I was sleeping in an actual rats nest and being mammals they like to come out to play at night.

"When I got home the BBC had to send pest control around to my flat in London because I picked up some Peruvian bugs. I have picked up various ailments and parasites along the way. It is part and parcel of the job."

The tale of the toilet over the side of the ship wasn't from this latest TV series but from an expedition to the Yemeni island of Socotra.

"That island is possibly my favourite place," says Ella. "The landscape is incredible and otherworldly, like nothing I have ever seen. Getting there though was a different story. There was no toilet on board the boat and I was the only woman. You had to go in a basket over the edge of the ship with no roof or walls."

In Human, Ella, who has a BSc in Genetics, an MSc in Taxonomy and Biodiversity and is undertaking a PhD in palaeo-anthropology at University College London, investigates everything from ancient family structures to early courtship rituals.

She reveals our incredible story across 300,000 years of human evolution and how - with the help of the latest discoveries - we're learning that the story is stranger and more surprising than we ever imagined.
For example, when Homo sapiens emerged in Africa they were not alone: there were at least six other human species alive at the time.

Across five episodes, Human examines how we went from being just one of many types of human to the dominant form of life on the planet.

It's an extraordinary story, spanning many millennia, but for 99% of it we have no written record of what happened. Now, following breakthroughs in DNA technology and remarkable fossil evidence, Ella shows how the lives of our ancestors have shaped who we are today.
"We started in obscurity, we weren't remarkable, we weren't the smartest, nor the strongest, just the latest in a long line of human species," she says.

"Yet, today, we are the only species of human left and we have gone on to build, invent and explore like no species ever has. In this series I wanted to put the human in human evolution. These are our actual ancestors, people in our family tree, with all the emotions, fears and hopes that come with being human."

The series explores everything from how we tamed dogs to how we invented farming.

Ella hopes Human will open viewers' eyes and minds about our incredible origins.

"We still have massive debates about what exactly led to Neanderthal extinction. Those questions, and so many others we look at in the series, are delicious to me," she says. "I hope viewers see how absolutely remarkable and unlikely our story is - it boggles my mind and it takes my breath away and I hope they feel the same way."
It is the stunning locations though that make the series compulsive viewing, just as you would expect with any BBC natural history documentary series. Which brings us nicely onto the final human in our conversation - a certain Sir David Attenborough.

And while Ella, who now has a boyfriend, has overcome her awkwardness of speaking to men, she hasn't managed it with Sir David yet. "I have been in the same room as him at events and sort of sidled up towards him but he has always left before I've plucked up the courage to talk to him," she admits. "To be doing what he does into his 90s is incredible.

"I hope I get the chance to do that too." She might well too. Like Sir David, she's got one hell of a good story.

* Human is on BBC Two on Monday nights at 9pm. All five episodes of the latest series are now available on BBC iPlayer.