Brian May: The Badgers, The Farmers and Me | Preview (BBC Two)

An outspoken critic of the practice of culling the badger population in the UK, which is used to stop the spread of bovine TB, Brian believes the animals are being scapegoated and killed needlessly.

Adamant that the badgers are not the cause of the spread of infection, Brian’s wildlife trust has spent the last few years sponsoring a research programme into the causes of the disease. He now believes he has the evidence to prove his theory, stop the cull and help cure the cattle.

Made by Athena Films, the film will follow the rock star as he takes his case to a sceptical farming community as he looks to persuade enough of them to back his radical plans.

Brian says: "I come from a position where I think it's immoral to be killing badgers, I'll be upfront about that. But if you're a farmer and you believe that the badgers are infecting your cattle, you can understand why they would want to kill them. It's very understandable.

"And what happened historically is that you get total polarisation. You get the farmers over here who are perhaps understandably resentful against the badger because they believe it's the source of all their problems. And you get animal campaigners over here very resentful of the farmers. But you realise in the end that shouting doesn't do anyone any good because everybody's trying to solve the problem. So I thought, well, let's try and come together to to solve this problem."

Julian Carey, BBC Wales commissioning editor, says: "This is a programme produced over four years telling the complex story behind the headlines - where farmers have been left ruined by bovine TB and yet there is still so much debate over how to combat it effectively.

"Brian has been a standard bearer for the animal rights movement and this film sees him trying to bring both sides of the debate together to find the best solution for the animals and the farmers."

Brian May: The Badgers, The Farmers and Me airs Friday 23rd August at 9pm on BBC Two.