Steve Backshall joins Britain's Got Talent finalist for new wildlife show
It has been said you should never work with children or animals, but telly wildlife fanatic Steve Backshall is a big advocate for combining both.
“I think you should only work with kids and animals,” he muses. “There’s so much energy and unpredictability from both. The most exciting times in life are when you’re on your toes when you don’t know what’s going to happen.” Now the double BAFTA-winner is hoping his passion for nature will capture the hearts of an even younger audience – as he ventures into preschool kids TV for the very first time.
The much-loved naturalist – famed for his long-running CBBC series Deadly 60 – has buddied up with eight-year-old Britain’s Got Talent finalist and environmental poet Aneeshwar Kunchala for a new 20-part CBeebies series. Starting on Monday, Steve and Aneeshwar Go Wild sees the duo getting up close to everything from primates, giraffes and sea lions to Komodo dragons at Chester Zoo in Cheshire and Knowsley Safari Park in Merseyside.
For someone who’s been attacked by a deadly cobra and charged at by a killer elephant, it’s arguably less daring than Steve’s usual pursuits. Yet, given he and Olympic rower wife Helen Glover, 37, have three preschool children Logan, four, and three year-old twins Kit and Bo – it’s also more personal than anything previously undertaken.
Steve and Aneeshwar are on CBeebies (BBC Studios)“I now get the biggest fulfillment out of seeing my kids excited doing things that I love myself now,” says the 50 year-old. “It’s about seeing the world through their eyes.” He admits: “I think that my aspirations have changed. I don’t want to go away for long trips. Even the mention of a six-week trip makes me feel a bit sick.
Strictly's Molly Rainford and Tyler West fuel romance rumours while on tour
“I don’t see missing those as a sacrifice because, as any parent knows, when you have young children and you go away even for the weekend, they’re different people when you come back. So it’s not just too long for them – it’s too long for me.”
Nature has been a part of his children’s world since they could crawl, with the family often going for a paddle near their Thames-side, Berkshire home looking out for the otters. He says: “We were staying in someone’s house in Wales recently and my little boy, Logan, came in with a dead furry thing in his hand.”
“And the lady who owned the house said ‘oh my god, it’s a dead mouse.” And he said, ‘no, it’s actually a shrew’. This thing was crawling with maggots. It was disgusting. But I was so proud. I thought ‘that’s my boy’.” But like most parents, he and Helen are acutely aware of the effect watching too much brain-numbing TV can have on young, pliable minds.
Steve with wife Helen and their young kids (The Cornishman)Last summer the pair penned the book, Wildlings: How to raise your family in nature – enlisting help from famous friends, including Bear Grylls and Sir Chris Hoy, to share their thoughts and tips. He says: “Getting out in nature has been such a massive part of parenting for us and we can see the difference in our own kids.
“We can see the difference between one of those moments where they’ve been plugged into the iPad or into the television for an hour. You look into their eyes and there is not the vitality there that there is if you spend that same hour out paddling on the river or making dens, or climbing trees.
“Some of the reasons why – the gains they can get from fresh air and sunlight and how it affects their hormones –probably seem a little bit woo to some people but the very definitive gains are really important to development. I have this unique opportunity of seeing young people who have, for example, just ridden a horse for the first time or surfed their first wave. You see that level of excitement –like they’re just about to burst out of their skins. And that’s what childhood should all be about.”
He and bright spark Aneeshwar are a fun double-act. “He’s full of a beans and a joy to work with,” says Steve, who describes the young Warrington lad who captured the nations hearts on the BGT stage last year as “the only person other than me who is so excited about wildlife”. There have been lots of laughs filming together.
Duo feeding giraffe (BBC Studios)“We had a rhino pretty much sticking its horn up our exhaust pipe,” he chortles. “We had a fantastic experience where they let us wash elephants at Chester Zoo and we had to film some facts when all we wanted to do was jump up and down and go ‘Woohoo! This is so cool’.”
Steve’s life sounds enviably idyllic but the work/family juggle is very real. “At the moment it’s just absolute chaos,” he says. “It’s not easy with Helen and my work schedules. “I’ve taken two months off this summer to just be dad and not do anything else and to cover for Helen because she’s got World Cups, European Championships and a big training block. We have to plan that I don’t go away on a filming trips when Helen has got a regatta coming up. It’s a massive juggling act and there are a couple of pinch points coming up that are going to be really tricky.”
Helen, 37, is a two-time Olympic champion who made her triumphant return to the games in 2021, becoming the first mum to row for Team GB. At Steve’s suggestion, she is now taking on the 2024 Paris Olympics. “Hopefully, post Paris, things will be a little easier,” he says.
Love Island viewers all say the same thing as Ian Stirling shades Will Young
One could argue he’s created a rod for his own back. But, as he explains: “We both have our dreams and our paths. They’re not conventional ones but they are ones we’ve invested a huge amount of time and effort and energy into. And we both understand that the others is equally important.”
Aneeshwar Kumar made final of BGT in 2022 (Dymond/Thames/REX/Shutterstock)Steve is speaking from his car phone on a long trip to Bangor University to claim an honorary doctorate, yet another accolade to add to a ticker-tape of awards, including an MBE. He still has political aspirations and has been vocal about holding water companies to account for the recent high-profile sewage leaks.
But family and health come first. It’s been 15 years since a major accident in which he plummeted 25ft while climbing in the Wye Valley, Wales – breaking his back and left ankle. After more than 13 operations and years of rehab Steve is fighting fit. He says: “I’m very aware of the power of the human body and the human spirit – more than I ever have been.”
* Steve and Aneeshwar Go Wild, CBeebies, Monday at 8.25am.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
