Monday, February 23rd, 2026

Ella is a National Geographic Explorer, palaeoanthropologist, evolutionary biologist...and stand-up comic. Her debut book The Handshake is a Times and Sunday Times Book of the Year. She specializes in Neanderthals, caves, and expeditions in hostile, disputed, and unstable territories. She almost exclusively works in places it is hard to get insurance, such as Iraq, Yemen, Nagorno-Karabakh, and places she can’t publicly admit to. From heading up exploratory expeditions to joining cave excavations, the conditions can be unusual—from avoiding landmines to wearing a burqa for security reasons.
 

Ella believes that this is a risk worth taking because huge parts of the planet’s scientific potential are being ignored due to instability. She argues that realistically, these places will become the frontline of science and exploration. She also believes that development is not just about aid—it is also about science and empowering locals. As a stand-up, Ella uses comedy as a coping strategy, but also as a tool to communicate science. She passionately believes that knowledge and science can empower locals and help with sustainable development.
 

The first female to headline a BBC nature series, Ella is the face of the 5-part series, HUMAN. Premiering in the fall of 2025, HUMAN is a co-production between BBC Studios Science Unit and PBS. The series tells the story of how humanity went from being just one of many hominin species to the dominant form of life on earth.
 

Roughly 250,000 years ago, Homo sapiens appeared in Africa, one of at least seven hominin species alive at the time. Today, we are the most dominant animal on Earth, and the only remaining human species left on the planet. It’s an extraordinary story. But for 98% of it, we have no written record of what happened. Now, following breakthroughs in DNA technology and remarkable new fossil evidence, we can tell this story in startling detail.

HUMAN uses a combination of archaeology, storytelling, and reconstruction to tell the story of how we became modern humans. Ella will follow in the footsteps of our ancient ancestors, visiting key archaeological sites to meet experts who can help her unlock the secrets of our deep historical past.
 

In 2018, Ella was the presenter and associate producer for BBC Two's science series, Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors, as well as Horizon: Body Clock – What Makes Your Body Tick. She then went on to present a National Geographic show on Viking Warrior Women where, during filming, she discovered what might be the first evidence of a battle injury on a female Viking warrior—a finding that made international headlines. She also presented on programs such as Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon (Channel 4) and Waterhole: Africa’s Animal Oasis (BBC2), and hosted a BBC World Service radio series with her brother, journalist Abubakr Al-Shamahi, reflecting on the 10-year anniversary of the Arab Spring.

Ella has been featured twice in National Geographic magazine and was a co-guest editor for the first UK edition of the magazine. She has been extensively featured in publications like The Times, The Telegraph, and The Sun, and has contributed to programs such as BBC Radio 4’s Midweek and BBC World Service’s Outlook. She holds a BSc in Genetics from University College London, an MSc in Taxonomy and Biodiversity from Imperial College London/Natural History Museum, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Neanderthal rates of evolution at University College London. Her book The Handshake: A Gripping History (Profile Books, 2021) explores the history and anthropology of the handshake.

Ella also performs nerdy stand-up internationally and has taken four stand-up shows to the Edinburgh Fringe. She was a 2019 TED main stage speaker and her talk has been viewed more than 2 million times.