Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

From flesh-eating cockroaches to charging elephants, Steve Backshall relives the making of Deadly 60.

Naturalist and TV presenter Steve Backshall is no stranger to excitement, having braved the Guyana rainforest for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One's Lost Land Of The Jaguar, trekked into the US's least hospitable terrain for Discovery's Expedition Alaska and descended into unexplored sinkholes in Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One's Expedition Borneo.

But filming Deadly 60 for CΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ certainly gave him a few more heart-stopping animal encounters to add to his list.

"There were certainly some nervy moments," admits Steve. ""Being charged by a furious matriarch elephant certainly had hearts in mouths, as did the snarling spitting Bengal tiger that gave us a fright in India.

"However, after another year in close proximity to some of the world's most feared animals, I can still say with confidence that people are at far more danger from other people than they are from supposedly fierce wild animals."

Having scoured the globe in his career as a presenter and author, Steve still chalked up some personal highlights during the making of this new CΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ series.

He says: "There were really too many highlights to mention, although seeing my first ever great hammerhead shark at a distance of about half a metre would be up there, as would being the first film crew ever to film vampire-esque ghost bats in an abandoned gold mine in Australia.

"But a lowlight would have to be losing my swimming trunks when trying to emulate the aquatic acrobatics of the yellowfin tuna!"

Clearly Steve has a great love and respect for wildlife, but were there any creatures on his travels he found unappealing?

"The flesh-eating cockroaches and venomous centipedes in the Gomantong cave in Borneo were pretty unsavoury," says Steve. ""They turn the floor of the cave, which is itself the world's largest pile of bird and bat poo, into a seething mass of invertebrate horror! It's a pretty creepy place but I still found the animals more fascinating than repulsive."

With just 60 creatures to narrow down from millions around the world, what criteria did Steve use when selecting the animals for the list?

"For me, it's about animals that are the absolute best at what they do – being sublime predators within their world," says Steve.

"Every creature was considered, from ants to elephants. The list itself is mine, and entirely subjective. Many of our Deadly 60 stars were essential creatures we set out to find, others were ones we happened upon on during wild searches and just had to include.

"There's no way we could have come up with an exhaustive list in the time we had – and there are still so many more animals that are worthy of inclusion."

Most nature lovers aren't able to travel the world to track down the deadly wild animals that Steve encounters but he urges people to keep their eyes peeled for the extraordinary wildlife which is under their noses.

"We have a fantastic array of birds of prey here in the UK," says Steve. "This time of year particularly is great for hobby and merlin, whilst our resident peregrines, kites, buzzards, kestrels and sparrowhawks are always around, and are some of the most staggeringly beautiful birds on the planet.

"The fact is, we don't open our eyes enough, so we just don't register they're here!

"This time of year is also fantastic for adders – just look out for the males jousting on heathlands on a warm summer's day."

Steve's lifestyle is clearly not without its risks and, a keen and experienced climber, he broke his back last year in a climbing accident. Has it affected his confidence?

"Climbing is never going to be 100% safe, but the climbing I do with work is done under much stricter guidelines than the climbing I do in my spare time," says Steve.

"The accident I had could never have happened whilst I was at work, because I wouldn't have been pushing the envelope as seriously as I was. That said, I am very lucky to be alive and walking, and will probably never get my confidence back to where it was before my fall. Although of course – I am already back climbing again!"

With an incredibly successful career in TV and writing, travelling the world doing exactly what he loves best, did Steve always harbour dreams of a life of adventure?

"I would never have dreamed what I do now was possible when I was a kid," says Steve. ""I wanted to be a ranger in an African safari park, an explorer, then a writer. They all seemed like impossible dreams back then and I can remember the face of my school's career teacher now as he suggested I should be a fireman.

"Somehow, I seem to have managed something even more extraordinary. I'd love to catch up with that careers adviser now!"