Change is afoot at CBC’s long-running docuseries The Nature of Things, with Canadian environmentalist and science broadcaster David Suzuki announcing plans to retire as host.

The climate change activist will hang up his hosting hat after his final episode next spring, 43 years after taking the reins, according to a news release issued Monday (Oct. 24). Plans for a replacement host will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

A Playback Hall of Fame inductee, Suzuki has hosted The Nature of Things since Oct. 24, 1979. His final season with the show will launch on Jan. 6, 2023.

A CBC spokesperson tells Playback Daily that no changes to the show’s creative team are planned or anticipated, noting the series works with new and different coproduction partners on a regular basis.

The Nature of Things is TV’s longest-running science programs and one of the most successful series in the history of Canadian television, according to CBC. It has run for 62 seasons.

Suzuki announced his decision on Sunday (Oct. 23) during an interview with Ian Hanomansing on CBC’s flagship news program The National, saying he’s wanted to retire for a long time, feeling he’s “way past my best-before date.”

“But for a long time it was felt I’d become so closely identified with the show, that if I left, they might cancel the series,” he added. “But gradually it was clear that we could be ready for another host and I think it’s about time.”

Suzuki expanded on that in a statement, noting he feels now is the right moment to create “opportunity for fresher, more imaginative input from younger people” on the series and prepare for that transition to “ensure the continuation of The Nature of Things.”

“I am so grateful to Canadians who have kept us on air and to the CBC for sticking with me,” added Suzuki. “The Nature of Things is a unique series that stems from an ecocentric rather than anthropocentric perspective, a critical understanding of how we got into the mess we are in and how to move out of it.”

Suzuki was a professor and geneticist before getting into broadcasting, and has authored more than 50 books. The founder of the non-profit David Suzuki Foundation has received numerous honours throughout his career, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, distinctions as a Companion of the Order of Canada and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a recognition by the UN for his environmental leadership.

In 2013, he received the Swarovski Humanitarian Award at Playback‘s Canadian Film & TV Hall of Fame ceremony.