Behind the Scenes Deadly 60

My name's Steve Backshall.

'People call me Steve.'

Whoa!

I'm on a mission to find the Deadly 60.

That's 60 deadly creatures from around the world.

'You're coming with me every step of the way.'

Ow!

Whoa!

'My crew and I have travelled the world, filming wild wonders

'for my Deadly 60 list.'

Oh, look at that!

'This is my chance to show you just how we managed to film

'some of Deadly 60's most memorable scenes.

'This is Deadly 60 - Behind The Scenes.

'Filming Deadly 60 is very much a team effort.

'Many wild and wonderful elements have to come together

-'to make a successful film.'

-I think we've lost them.

'It takes a lot of planning before the director can shout, "Action!"'

There it goes!

'And no amount of research can guarantee the animals even turn up.'

I'm starting to get a bit disheartened.

'You may remember my encounter with Jessica the hippo.

'This is one of the most incredible animal encounters in the series,

'but just how did we get that close to a truly deadly animal?'

She's coming out of the water. Look at this!

This is a totally wild river

and wild hippos pass through here every day

and socialise with Jessica here.

Give us a nice, big smile, Jess.

'We were able to get this close to Jessica

'because of her extraordinary relationship with game warden Tonie

'and his wife Shirley.

'Jessica was orphaned as a baby

'and has been part of the family ever since.

'I now have to build up the trust of Jessica

'cos the plan is for me eventually to get in the water with her.

'So just how do you win the trust of a tonne-and-a-half hippo?

'Well, you have afternoon tea with her.

'Obviously(!)'

The hippo's tea is getting cold.

I never thought I'd say that.

Come on, chaps. The hippo's tea is getting cold.

What does that mean?

'As bizarre as it may sound, Jess loves warm tea.

'And she consumes about six litres of it a day.'

-All the way in, there you are.

-Tell me a bit about Jessica's story.

She was a flood victim in 2000.

11th of March. She was born the evening when the river was in flood.

I picked her up the next morning on the water's edge up near the house.

I took her in and raised her freely.

She can go to the Kruger National Park if she wants to.

In the evenings, the wild hippos visit her.

She grazes with them. She eats the same food they eat.

-Apart from the tea!

-This is just supplementary, the spoiling bit, yes.

'This is the only hippo in the world

'you could get anything like this close to.

'And we're coming back to Jess a little bit later on

'when things get even stranger.

'Much of the really hard work on Deadly 60 is done

'before the cameras even start rolling.'

It's a bear!

'Finding the animal is only half the battle.

'We use all our knowledge of animal behaviour

'to get close enough to get the shots we're after.

'It takes time, stealth and care to get close to birds

'like these bald eagles.

'Rosie the director wanted to get what is known as a two-shot.

'That means that I had to be in the same shot as an eagle.

'Here's the final sequence as it appeared in the show.'

The bald eagle is one of the most regal of birds.

They fly at usually about 30 mph,

but when they're dropping out of the sky to hit prey,

they can travel well over 100 mph.

'An eagle's sight is around eight times more powerful than a human's

'and is particularly sensitive to movement.

'That meant patience and stillness was our best chance

'of getting the shots.

'Johnny the cameraman only moves when the eagle is busy feeding.

'In true Deadly 60 style, you come with us every step of the way,

'even when the animal doesn't turn up.

'Like the wild dogs in Africa.'

We've covered an enormous area and no sign whatsoever of the dogs.

'And the elusive mountain lion in Arizona.'

-DOGS BARKING

-Hello there, doggies.

'We came within a cat's whisker

'of seeing one of these incredible creatures,

'but it just gave us the slip.

'And another big cat promised even more of a challenge.

'It was a big risk to go in search

'of an animal that's sly, secretive and endangered,

'but we couldn't make a programme about the 60 deadliest animals

'without at least trying.'

The animal we're looking for, there's only about 164 of them here.

And they're so well-camouflaged,

they could be hiding about 20 metres off to the side of this road

and we wouldn't ever see them. Talk about needles in haystacks!

'This legendary beast is one of the world's most spectacular predators -

'the Bengal tiger.'

-Happy?

-Yeah.

-Running, Steve...

'As always, tracking and searching for our wild hero

'is a part of the story.

'We felt like wildlife crime scene investigators,

'following clues and signs to track down our tiger.'

Look at that one there!

The print of a big cat!

'Behind the scenes, we enlisted some of the locals

'to help search them out.

'Ellie power is an old-fashioned, low maintenance way of travelling.

'And this is the elephant version of a car wash.'

Oh, yes!

You're loving that, aren't you, girl?

"Oh, yeah, that's good. Just there. Yeah, that's it, that's it!"

'Give them a scrub and they'll take you for miles.'

'The army of elephants combined with our trackers and four-wheel drives

'to give us the best chance of finding a tiger.'

People in India have used elephants to go out looking for tigers

for hundreds of years.

I mean, we are almost totally silent as we're moving.

If there's any way we're going to find one, I think this is it.

'In the programme, our search sequence lasted minutes,

'but in reality, we searched for four days

'without seeing any more than a claw mark or a bit of tiger poo.'

Finally, we've got a bit of good news.

This...is tiger dung.

'The signs told us that tigers were lurking in the shadows.

'With patience and a bit of detective work,

'we were confident we'd get there eventually.'

Tiger, tiger.

Oh, yes, I see it.

Oh, wow!

I had been hoping to see our first tiger in the middle of the wild.

But actually this is even more special

to have shared this with the people of India who...

Look.

It's come out across the road in front of us.

CONVERSATION IN LOCAL LANGUAGE

Look at that!

Just sauntering across the road in front of us.

'There are very few wild encounters that can match the regal majesty

'of a tiger in the wild.

'Johnny wanted to get another shot as it disappeared into the forest,

'but the dense undergrowth and his camouflage

'meant he just seemed to vanish.'

Are you happy with the kind of footage you got?

It can always be better.

It was very shaky and all the sounds on top.

That an animal that size

can just disappear into the undergrowth in the blink of an eye,

I think for that reason alone,

the Bengal tiger has to make it on to the Deadly 60.

-We got one!

-Yeah!

Fantastic. Yes!

'It was a difficult start, but worth it.

'During the next few days, our tiger count went through the roof.'

From five days searching everywhere and finding nothing,

it seems like tigers are everywhere.

There's one just lying in a puddle up ahead of us,

breathing heavily in the shade.

This would have to be the best wildlife encounter in India.

Just right there in front of us.

'While they're sat in the open, they're easy to see,

'but the dense bushes alongside the trail could hide an elephant,

'let alone a grouchy tiger.'

GROWLING

'It takes constant, careful movement to keep the tiger in view,

'always taking care not to crowd or frighten these magnificent beasts.

'But however hard you try, sometimes the king of the forest

'just needs to let you know who is really boss.'

GROWLS

Move, move, move! Back up, back up!

That shows how fast things can change with wild animals.

We were congratulating ourselves about the sighting of a tiger

and drove too close on the left-hand side and it turned.

GROWLS

Move, move, move!

'I think the tiger was just putting us in our place.

'If he wanted to attack, we'd not have stood a chance.

'Now, as promised, back to Jessica.

'She is the only wild hippo in the world you could get this close to.

'We met Jessica earlier over afternoon tea

'to try and gain her trust.

'Next, James the director wanted to do an interview with Shirley

'and Jess in the background.

'We weren't quite expecting what happened next.'

SPEAKS IN AFRIKAANS

'A hippo in a house is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen.

'This may look like a giggle, but we've got to keep our wits about us

'as this is a tonne and a half of famously unpredictable hippo

'and anything could happen.'

OK, don't come too close.

Don't worry, don't worry.

'I've never shared a living room with a hippo before,

'but Tonie and Shirley don't seem too bothered.'

SPEAKS IN AFRIKAANS

Just come with me, yeah?

Just walk around behind me.

OK, just come and sit down next to me first.

She's so heavy, my darling.

I have to say, Shirley, in a whole lifetime working with animals,

this is the weirdest thing I've ever seen.

You are sitting with a hippo on your lap in your front room.

How on earth are you going to get up out of that?

Don't worry. You get up.

'The interview goes well, but Jessica's got good and comfy.

'What do you do when the hippo that's resting its giant head on you

'doesn't want to get up?'

CONVERSATION IN AFRIKAANS

She loves you!

She doesn't want Shirley to leave.

CONVERSATION IN AFRIKAANS

'While Jess is enjoying her pampering,

'Rich the sound man takes the opportunity to get a recording

'of the hippo's heavy breathing, which sounds like this.'

Everyone quiet, please.

BREATHING SOUNDS

'We're going to come back to Jess for one more visit later

'when, wild as it seems, I'm going swimming with her.

'Dealing with any wild animal, and particularly deadly ones,

'safety is the most important thing to consider.

'It's the first thing on our mind when getting close to any animal,

'whether we're diving, canoeing

'or pretty much any of our action sequences for Deadly 60.

'And safety was vital when we ventured into Borneo's rainforests

'to climb inside Gomantong Caves,

'a series of huge caverns

'where we hoped to film millions of bats and swifts

'that make their home there.

'I abseiled down to see the nesting swifts.

'Scary stuff as they live 150 metres above the cave floor.

'Not something to go for if you're scared of heights.'

Good to go, Steve. We're good to go. Over.

Wow!

What a place!

Stop there, please, Steve.

Look at that!

This has to be one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

'This is the only way to get a true sense

'of the bats and swifts in their own environment.'

They're just dropping into their nests right in front of me.

Look at that one there.

'But to ensure my safety up here takes an awful lot of planning.

'And it all starts down at ground level

'where James the director has a confession to make.'

We're going to go to a big cave

and Steve is going to abseil from the top.

The rest of us will be at the bottom filming it.

We've got to carry all our kit. How far is it? About 30, 40 minutes.

The reason that James is going to the bottom and not the top with me

is he's absolutely terrified of heights.

Big, strong man! Very frightened of heights!

Right, let's go.

'So with my team of climbing and safety experts,

'I set out on the steep hike up to the hole in the roof of the cave

'from where I intend to start my abseil.

'The other team are taking the easy route into the cave,

'led by James and assistant director Rosie.'

Where are we going, Rosie?

We've packed up all the kit

and we're just heading into the bottom of the cave.

Steve's gone up to the top.

Then he's going to do this big, 120-metre abseil down.

So we've got two cameras down here. He's got a head-cam on.

And we hope it's going to be quite spectacular.

'The Gomantong Caves are home to millions of swifts

'and wrinkle-lipped bats.

'Wrinkle-lipped bats are nocturnal, that is night-time hunters,

'and every evening, millions of them leave the cave system together

'to gorge themselves on the insects in the surrounding rainforest.

'After an hour of exhausting hiking in very hot and humid conditions,

'we reach the top entrance to the cave.

'A fall from this height would obviously be fatal,

'so every inch of rope and piece of kit is checked and checked again.

'150 metres below me,

'the camera crew are welcomed to the low-level cave entrance

'by some of its residents.'

-See the bats up there?

-Up there!

Osman, our guide, said that was going to be a really easy walk.

We're all absolutely sweating now.

And this is the cave.

-So where is Steve going to come down, guys?

-What?

-Where is Steve coming down?

-There.

'And dangling like threads of spider silk

'are the ropes that I'll be climbing down.

'The crew set up the cameras on the cave floor as I wave from above.'

Somebody's waving. That's Steve.

'I set up a helmet camera, so you can see what I see

'and we're all set.'

Right, if you guys down there can hear me, give me a flash of a light.

Good to go, Steve. We're good to go. Over.

'With one final nervous check of the rope,

'it's time to plunge into the abyss.'

It's just incredible stuff.

'But no amount of planning can guarantee

'that things will go smoothly when you hit the deck.'

Up in the roof of the cave with the bats and birds circling around you,

it's kind of like paradise.

But all those birds and two million bats create an awful lot of poo.

But there are some deadly creatures...

LAUGHTER

'Once I'm back on my feet,

'James the director is keen to show you the result of all of that poo.'

It smells incredibly strong.

In fact, anyone that works in this cave for too long

has to wear protective clothing

which explains why my crew are all dressed like weird oompa-loompas.

'The weird oompa-loompas have been working down here longer than I have

'which is why they're wearing them and I'm not.'

This big hill that I'm walking up here isn't actually a hill at all.

You see, all those creatures up there

obviously have to go to the toilet sometime

and over hundreds of years it's built up

into this gigantic pile of what's called guano.

'And a lot of poo attracts poo eaters.

'These are all cockroaches.'

I have never seen anything so disgusting in my entire life.

Every single square inch of ground is covered in these creatures.

'I really do mean every single inch. They're everywhere.'

I've got cockroaches running in and out of my shoes,

up my trousers and everything,

and Johnny the cameraman is sat

in the biggest pile of poo in the world, filming cockroaches.

This is the most disgusting place I've ever been to, that's for sure.

It reminds me of Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom.

I've never seen so many bugs in the one spot.

But you know, anything for Steve!

LAUGHTER

'The shots we got made our mission to Gomantong Cave worth it.

'But we were very pleased to get back out into the fresh air.

'When filming Deadly 60,

'each location has its own set of challenges.

'Potentially the biggest of those is the weather.'

It's absolutely...fr-freezing.

'From extreme cold to exhausting heat.

'When filming polar bears in Alaska,

'the wind chill meant the temperature fell below minus 30.

'Behind the scenes, the team had to work hard

'to keep the cameras and themselves warm.

'While filming tigers in India,

'the humidity and sudden downpours made driving interesting.

'Filming gannets off the Welsh coast is hard enough

'without heavy rain and rough seas.

'Try and hold your camera steady in this!

'In the deserts of Arizona,

'the heat gave us a different set of problems.'

We'll experiment again.

'The great horned owl is one of the fiercest predators around here.

'It's a supreme aerial hunter.'

WHISTLES

'But could we get it to fly?

'No way, Jose!'

Anything else that I could do to...?

'We even tried to lure him with meaty treats, but still no flying.'

I'll tap the spot.

'It was just too hot for our owl to be bothered -

'one Deadly 60 experiment that bit the dust.'

OWL SQUAWKS

'Luckily, the weather wasn't an issue in South Africa.

'You don't want any distractions

'when going swimming with a potentially lethal hippo.

'We'd spent the day gradually gaining her trust,

'but would this pay off?

'Well, it was time to try for the ultimate animal encounter.'

So I'm going to try this very, very carefully and slowly.

And if she starts moving, run.

I think you're the one who'll have to run, Steve.

'This is going against everything I've ever learnt about hippos.

'But if Jessica has learnt to trust me, I'm going to have to trust her

'if I'm going to have any chance of understanding her

'in her world and on her terms.'

Now, this is one of the most extraordinary animal encounters

I've ever had in my life.

This is the only place in the whole world that you could do this.

What an extraordinary opportunity!

What's surprising... Obviously, I've never touched a hippo before.

But it's the sensation of the skin.

It's really very soft, almost slimy.

Hippos have a whole range of substances

that they almost sweat out on to their skin

which serve all kinds of purposes.

Some of this stuff that they sweat out may act almost like sun block.

'Well, not many people can say that they've had a bath with a hippo.

'What an unbelievable privilege, if something of a nervous one!'

I've spent all my life being told that hippos are terrifying creatures

that will tear you in half the second you get anywhere near them.

I've just been in the water with a hippo resting her head in my hands

and feeling the sensation of her bellow-like lungs as she breathes.

I've always been passionate about bugs and snakes and smaller things,

but the powerful nature, the drama,

that overpowering sense of being close to an animal that size,

you can't beat it.

'So that was a look behind the scenes

'at just how we make Deadly 60,

'dealing with the weather, the location...

'..and the animals themselves.

'All are key to the success of our programme.

'With a bit of luck, when all these things come together,

'it leads to some unforgettable experiences.'

This is absolutely dazzling!

'Which is hopefully what Deadly 60 is all about.'

Look at the size of it! Great white shark!

This is the biggest spider I've ever seen.

'Join us next time for more out-of-this-world

'animal encounters on Deadly 60.'

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd 2009

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