Steve Backshall - Fierce on ITV

Don't miss Fierce starting this Tuesday 19th April 8pm on ITV. 

Steve Backshall will explore the world in search of some of the planet’s fiercest animals. In six epic adventures to Guyana, Mexico, Namibia, Indonesia, Australia and South Africa, he’ll be getting up close and personal with the world’s most venomous snake, the extraordinary Komodo Dragon and even the notorious honey badger.

Tuesday 19th April 8pm 

Tuesday 26th April 8pm 

Tuesday 2nd May 8pm 

Tuesday 10th May 8pm 

Tuesday 17th May 8pm 

Tuesday 24th May 8pm 

Mountain Warehouse

In a bid to encourage children to explore the outdoors, Steve Backshall has joined forces with UK outdoor retailer, Mountain Warehouse, to create a range of outdoor gear exclusively for children. The collection will showcase bright animal printed tees, sturdy waterproof boots and more kit perfect for an adventure. You can view the collection here

Steve Backshall's Wild World Tour 2016

TICKETS ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR STEVE BACKSHALL'S WILD WORLD TOUR 2016!

19th October      Broxbourne, The Spotlight     01992 441946    GET TICKETS HERE 

20th October      Crawley, The Hawth Theatre     01293 553636     GET TICKETS HERE

21st October      Northampton, Royal and Derngate     01604 624811   GET TICKETS HERE   

22nd October     Dorking, Dorking Halls      01306 881717    GET TICKETS HERE

23rd October      Brighton, The Dome Concert Hall 01273 709709     GET TICKETS HERE

24th October      Kings Lynn, Corn Exchange     01553 764864     GET TICKETS HERE

25th October      Hayes, Beck Theatre     020 8561 8371     GET TICKETS HERE

26th October      Bromley, Churchill Theatre     020 3285 6000   GET TICKETS HERE

27th October      Nottingham, Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall     0115 989 5555     GET TICKETS HERE

28th October      Liverpool, St Helens Theatre Royal     01744756000     GET TICKETS HERE

29th October      Birmingham, Town Hall     0121 780 3333     GET TICKETS HERE

30th October      Manchester, RNCM Concert Hall 0161 907 5555     GET TICKETS HERE

31st October       Stoke on Trent, Regent Theatre   0844 871 7649     GET TICKETS HERE

 

2nd November    Hull, City Hall     01482 300300     GET TICKETS HERE

5th November      Frome, Cheese and Grain     01373 455420     GET TICKETS HERE

6th November      Cornwall, Truro Hall     01872 262466        GET TICKETS HERE

7th November      Cheltenham, Town Hall   0844 576 2210     GET TICKETS HERE

9th November      Swindon, Wyvern Theatre     01793 524481    GET TICKETS HERE

11th November    London, Royal Geographical Society     020 7609 1800     GET TICKETS HERE

12th November    Dartford, Orchard Theatre      01322 220000     GET TICKETS HERE

13th November    Blackpool, Grand Theatre     01253 290190     GET TICKETS HERE      

14th November    York, Grand Theatre and Opera House     0844 871 3024    GET TICKETS HERE

15th November    Manchester, RNCM Concert Hall     0161 907 5555     GET TICKETS HERE    

16th November    Aylesbury Waterside Theatre     0844 871 7607     GET TICKETS HERE

18th November    Ipswich, Corn Exchange     01473 433100    GET TICKETS HERE     

19th November    Colchester, Charter Hall     01206 282020    GET TICKETS HERE     

20th November    London, Richmond Theatre     0844 871 765  GET TICKETS HERE

Steve Backshall - Extreme Mountain Challenge on BBC Two

Adventurer and naturalist Steve Backshall embarks on one of the most dramatic and dangerous expeditions filmed by a BBC crew - to explore Venezuela’s tepuis, the ancient, sheer-sided mountains of Canaima National Park.

With a team of expert rock climbers, Steve attempts the first ascent of a remote, unclimbed tepui to search for wildlife on the summit. The month-long expedition will see Steve and the team scaling untouched mountain cliffs, caving inside the tepuis and abseiling off the highest waterfall in the world. Along the way, the team battle against freak weather, rock fall and some very dangerous wildlife. 

Transmission Dates: 

Sunday 6th March at 8:00pm

Monday 7th March at 11:15pm (Repeat)

Sunday 13th March at 8:00pm

Monday 14th March at 11.15pm (Repeat)

Steve Backshall's Weird, Wild and Wonderful Tour Live in Australia - January 2016

Following sell out shows in the UK, the hero of Deadly 60 appears LIVE ON STAGE for an evening of wild discovery and dangerous entertainment. Join Steve Backshall as he shares his experiences of getting up close to some of the worlds deadliest creatures.
Get tickets for his Australia tour in January 2016 here: 
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Take an interactive 360º dive with Steve Backshall being mobbed by sea lions!

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Want to join Steve Backshall on his dive with the Californian sea lions? Of course you do. And now you can in this 360º video!

Steve takes you free diving with sea lions in this amazing 360º film. Special thanks to Steven Litvin, Cody Karutz and Jody Beers from Stanford University for allowing us to use their cameras to immerse us in this incredible world.

If you are on a mobile device this works best using the YouTube app where you can look around by moving your screen.

On a desktop you can navigate by using the arrows in the top left hand side of the video window. Enjoy.

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Monterey Bay

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Steve Backshall Big Blue Live

Originally appeared on The Huffington Post – 28/08/2015

The quicksilver ball quivered and seethed, mercury smoke flashing in the golden hour sunlight. I drew in breath and ducked below the surface, a few metres down hitting the icy layer of water driven up from the great depths. As I span onto my back I looked up to see the baitfish above me silhouetted against the sun, a living thing growing and receding before the dark torpedo shape of a predator. The large male California sealion darted amongst the fish trying to separate a loner, herding them like tiny silvery sheep. Out of the green a pod of clicking white-sided dolphins hove into view, bodies convulsing, vocalisations escalating in the excitement of the chase. I turn my camera skywards, battling the urge to breathe or surge for the surface hoping to capture this dazzling overwhelming spectacle, one you could spend a lifetime searching for. 

“That magical place is one of the world’s greatest conservation success stories, and it’s where I’ll be spending my summer making Big Blue Live for BBC1. ”

It's a truth widely accepted in ecology that top of the line apex predators don't matter. That we're wasting our time putting effort into cuddly iconic carnivores, when the most important factors are always less charismatic but more abundant stuff like bugs and grubs. There is one place however where that has been proven manifestly untrue. That magical place is one of the world’s greatest conservation success stories, and it’s where I’ll be spending my summer making Big Blue Live for BBC1.

It's a torrid tale with bleak beginnings, but a truly happy ending. California's Monterey Bay has been an epicentre for fisheries for 240 years, and as such has had every single one of its marine inhabitants brutally and fatally over-exploited. One of the first to be exterminated was the sea otters. As a marine mammal that is not insulated by blubber like whales and seals, sea otters possess the densest fur on the planet, 100,000 hairs per square centimeter.

It's an essential adaptation in waters that are blessed by cold upwellings of nutrient-rich waters; the very basis of the flourishing food chain. Their fur coats however proved to be their downfall, as waves of both legal and illicit hunters ravaged these shores in search of the priceless pelts. In the late 1700s they were seen as the royal fur in China, and in the 1800s a single pelt could raise $100. Not surprisingly the last sea otter disappeared from Monterey before the end of that century. They were not the last to perish before human avarice. In 1854 a whale was worth two pounds of pure gold, and hence they too fell, first to spears then to the explosive harpoons of the industrial whalers...
Big Blue Live continues on BBC One on Sunday 30 August at 7pm.