MEET the star of BBC4’s latest ground-breaking documentary.

No, not renowned explorer and honorary Oxford University research associate George McGavin – the tree behind him.

The Oak Tree, an hour-and-a-half programme due to be shown on BBC4 next year, will follow a year in the life of this 350-year-old native of Wytham Woods outside Oxford.

Production company Furnace said it picked that particular oak because it had “character” and would look good on camera.

Dr McGavin, a regular on the BBC’s One Show, said the oak provides a home and habitat for more species than any other single tree in the UK.

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He said: “The oak is an iconic species in this country. It’s been in the UK since the last ice age.

"Now there are about 425 insects that depend on it because they eat part of it or live in it.

“Then you have all the birds who eat those insects and the acorns. When you take into account all the fungi and lichens, the total is in the high hundreds.”

“The spectacular thing for me is the spring, when it bursts into life and it’s infested with all sorts of things – beetles, crickets and moths.

“We’re going to show this tree like it’s never been shown before.”

Having started shooting in the autumn, Dr McGavin has already spent a night up the tree in a hammock 50ft off the ground to get a tree’s eye view of life.

He said: “I can film things that would be happening that you wouldn’t see from the ground.

“The aim is to be part of the tree and see what it is experiencing.”

The crew have used lasers to produce a three-dimensional model of the tree, also allowing them to calculate its weight.

In order to show how massive the root system of an oak can be, the crew recruited a team of 12 to spend two weeks carefully removing soil from around the root system of a 12-year-old tree – a toddler in oak years – before hauling it above the ground for viewers to get an eyeful.

In the show Dr McGavin also takes a close look at oak planks on HMS Victory, Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, now in Portsmouth, and examines the 1,200-year-old oak timbers which hold up Winchester Cathedral.

This week(MAR16) the crew went to Edinburgh to show a mighty oak being felled with a JCB, using a strain gauge to show how much force was needed to uproot it.

Dr McGavin, who now lives in Ascot, said: “It’s not a TV show for ITV1, it’s more contemplative.“We have more ancient oak trees in the UK than anywhere else in the world, up to 800 years old.

“I can walk to Windsor Great Park and touch a tree that was there when Anne Boleyn’s head was cut off.”