A mediator from Bermondsey who has spent decades helping to resolve conflicts from gang violence to residents and developers’ disputes features in Bear Grylls’ new BBC One series Wild Reckoning, writes Myfanwy Fleming-Jones…
Dave Walker, a long-standing practitioner at Camberwell based Calm Mediation – a mediation service for neighbourhoods, families, workplaces and educational settings – is one of only a handful of experts chosen for the show to help participants improve their relationships.
The programme, which aired on Monday, 23 February, on BBC One, was filmed across expanses of Welsh countryside and sees participants physically and emotionally challenged in their pairings with the guidance of a mediator to help them navigate the internally rocky terrain they explore.
Mediators help prevent escalation of conflict, restore communication, and strengthen social cohesion across communities and neighbourhoods. Mr Walker brings his token invaluable local insight to the national screen as the contestants work on rebuilding trust, restoring communication and opening up to being vulnerable in the vast Welsh outdoors.
Photo Credit: BBC One, Wild Reckoning, Series 1: Age Gap Parenting Clash
Mr Walker stated that his 40 years’ experience in mediation across a variety of school conflicts, pubs, gangs, clubs and parks helped him to think on his feet.
He said: “When the film crew first asked us what we needed in terms of mediation, I said we generally spend 45 minutes to an hour with each client before a mediation. But this was different. We actually had 15 minutes with each client…It was very tight.”
Mr Walker is hopeful that the show will encourage watchers to relate their own issues to those presented on the show and see the need for an independent third party to bring people and relationships back together or find an understanding middle ground.
Mr Walker joined Southwark Mediation Centre (SMC) as a volunteer and was the first community mediator trained there, mediating his first case in 1986.
He was appointed director in 2000 before bringing the organisation together with Calm Mediation in 2020 and went on to be awarded an MBE in 2007 for his outstanding contribution to mediation.
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Calm Mediation is now entering its 40th year of mediating and is seeking 40 Southwark residents to train.
The project aims to take on a group that reflects the diversity of Southwark’s people and places, ensuring the mediation service provided to the community is culturally grounded, locally trusted, and genuinely accessible.
They have applied for funding to provide this service to the community and Mr Walker is hopeful they will receive it. He believes the value of mediating in communities is essential, commenting that “we can’t fix all the conflicts in the world, but we can sort out conflict and bring peace to our own backyard.”
Calm Mediation commented: “Dave is a huge asset to Southwark and to our team here at Calm Mediation. We’re thrilled to see his work recognised nationally. His appearance highlights just how important mediation is, both here in our community and far beyond.”
Mr Walker says that being introduced to mediation “changed his life” and that he believes he has “the greatest job in the world.” He hopes that people will relate to the stories on Wild Reckoning as even he found himself reminiscing on moments of his own life when watching it back.
You can catch up on the show on BBC iPlayer.
Photo Credit: BBC One, Wild Reckoning, Series 1: Age Gap Parenting Clash
