My kayak flipped over and I was drowning... I thought I’d never see my baby son grow up
I missed out a lot while I was away. I’d horrible guilt...
travelling the world in search of dangerous creatures. Blessed with a rugged physique and a willingness to don a wetsuit, he became a favourite with children – and their mums – but he is far more than wildlife eye candy.
He is engaging, sharply intelligent, thoughtful and keenly aware wildlife broadcasters have a duty to shine a light on issues such as climate change, pollution and habitat loss.
“There is a weight of responsibility. Throughout my career, I’ve told myself it’s good enough to show the world at its most beautiful because people will be inspired to take care of it,” he says.
“Now I have the same crisis I’ve seen Sir David Attenborough go through over the past decade. It’s not enough any more. I need to be doing more to focus on the problems we have in the world.” A respected botanist, he campaigns on wildlife issues and the animals he loves the most are close to home. And he says that we should love them more too.
“There is a tendency to see the animals I treasure, British wildlife such as foxes, as vermin. There is panic every time they encroach on our space.
“But at the same time the British wildlife lobby is as strong as you’ll find anywhere in the world, which is surprising considering we have tremendously denuded fauna in this country,” he explains.
For much of his adult life, he lived a nomadic existence, using the UK as a base. He admits he is often more comfortable barefoot in the rainforest than he is in London after the pubs chuck out.
But he’s experienced homesickness for the first time and misses his family desperately.
“Helen and I had lots of deep chats about whether I should do the new series,” he admits. “It couldn’t have come at a worse time. We made the call together as a couple. There were plenty of times I wanted to cancel. I had horrible guilt. Thankfully Helen had huge support.
“I missed out a lot while I was away. At first Helen was very heavily pregnant with a pregnancy that was going far from smoothly, and then I had a new baby. I went weeks without STEVE BACKSHALL ON FEELING HOMESICK speaking to home and always missed some big moments.
I’d never had anything approaching homesickness before. I’ve hankered over decent food or a comfy bed but never had that deep, gutwrenching longing.”
Satellite calls home from the jungle were sometimes tense. He reveals: “I rarely got a chance, and when I did the tension of not having spoken for 10 days and only having three minutes during which Helen might only understand 20 words was crap.”
Back home, he recently had surgery on the shoulder he damaged during his kayak accident but counts himself lucky as he rarely suffers on his travels.
“There are minor annoyances, such as burrowing mites, and leeches, ticks
and fungus. But no real illness. The worst I’ve had was diarrhoea while living 30 metres up in the forest canopy filming Harpy Eagles.”
And he always packs his secret weapon: Super Glue. “It’s an essential. It’s amazing for performing quick surgery. We’ve super-glued up some substantial wounds in the past.”
But Steve admits that now he needs to diet hard before he heads off on an adventure. “I put pressure on myself,” he laughs. “I know there will be shots with my top off. There probably doesn’t need to be any more.”
■ Expedition with Steve Backshall, Sunday, 8pm on Dave. Expedition by Steve Backshall is published by BBC Books on Thursday, £20.