When it comes to sharing advice with his patients, TV’s Dr Amir Khan is all about walking the walk. Or in his case – running the run.

“I go for a run every morning before work,” says Khan, who regularly appears on ITV’s Good Morning Britain and Lorraine shows and is a GP in inner-city Bradford, where he grew up.

“I’m very lucky because where I [now] live in Yorkshire, we’ve got parks and fields I can run through. I’m a full-time GP – it’s a very busy, very stressful job, particularly now with the demands put on the NHS, but running helps clear my mind.

“It sets me up for the day. I’ve got that boost of serotonin at the start of the day, and that’s going to see me through.”

Wildlife encounters are an added bonus for the British-Asian doctor, whose 2020 book – The Doctor Will See You Now: The highs And lows Of My Life An An NHS GP – became a Sunday Times bestseller.

“I see badgers, foxes and deer and sometimes when I go out at dawn, I can see owls. I come back absolutely buzzing,” he enthuses.

“I think that is amazing. Because I grew up in inner-city Bradford, where we didn’t have a garden, we didn’t have access to these things, I only really saw these animals in books, and now to be able to see them in real life is incredible. Everybody should be able to have that buzz.”

Making nature accessible – and highlighting its many health benefits – is important for Khan. Already an ambassador for The Wildlife Trusts, he has recently been named as a GetOutside Ambassador for Ordnance Survey, Britain’s national mapping service.

“It’s very exciting, and really in keeping with the stuff I talk about,” says Khan, who is very keen on social and green prescribing – the idea of healthcare professionals ‘prescribing’ things such as walking …