BBC to star: Don't reveal NZ secrets

Stephen Fry

English actor Stephen Fry has been gagged by the BBC from talking about his New Zealand travels.

The comedian and author is in New Zealand filming the BBC documentary Last Chance To See.

It is revisiting a series recorded in 1985 by author Douglas Adams in which he travelled to remote places to seek out some of the world's most endangered species.

Fry is finding out how the animals Adams featured are faring today.

But he has run foul of his BBC bosses because he is using website Twitter to talk about his travels - and revealing secrets supposed to be saved for the television show.

"Wellington is charming," he said on twitter.com after landing in New Zealand on December 29.

He travelled to Auckland and Whangarei to see a kiwi - "The real birds, not the people or the fruit ... Wholly charming young bird. Didn't seem too frightened".

It appears Fry was warned about giving too much away when he wrote about the kakapo.

"I'd furnish you with pix, but BBC being pissy about material 'belonging' to them as it's their trip, so I'm being cagey," he says.

"BBC not banned me zackly [exactly], but they'd clearly rather I didn't share my experiences digitally till post transmission. Bah."