Episode 9 Holiday of My Lifetime with Len Goodman

Childhood holidays, we all love them, don't we?

Fun in the sun, sandcastles,

swimming in the sea,

can't beat them!

So, in this series, I'm going

to be reliving those wonderful times

with some much-loved famous faces.

Everyone a winner!

Come on! Hook a duck!

And some of the most surprising guests had the most

fascinating holidays.

-You could do a night here.

-You could!

-Yeah.

-However, I think that's long enough for me.

-Yeah!

'We'll relive the fun...'

TRAIN WHISTLES

Oh, no! No, no!

'..the games

'and the food of years gone by.'

-Oh, I'm so excited!

-Oh, the taste, the taste of your childhood.

To find out how those holidays around the UK helped shape

the people we know so well today.

I'm giving you a standing ovation.

So buckle up for Holiday Of My Lifetime.

Can you come on all my holidays?

I'm on my way to meet a man who's a bit like me -

tall, powerful, strong, frightened of nothing.

Oh-ho, yes,

it's like looking in a mirror.

He was born in Bagshot in 1973.

Look at him as a little boy.

He loved a bit of adventure.

He's best known as a presenter, especially on CBBC,

and to start with he was really wild.

Now he's famous for hanging round the deadliest

creatures on the planet.

Well, you'd better watch out, son. Today you've got me!

Of course he's popular with us adults too,

with worldwide explorations,

but it's not all caves, volcanoes and mountains.

He can be a bit of a hoot too!

Did you get that? Hoot-to-wit-to-woo.

And you might know him through his moves on Strictly. I tell you,

he really knew how to swing!

All right, Jungle Jim, put your clothes on.

He loves taking his clothes off.

Have you got it yet? Of course, you have.

Today's guest is Steve Backshall.

Oh, I hope he's left those creepy-crawlies behind.

Ooh, no. I don't like spiders!

Adventurous Steve Backshall grew up in Bagshot,

with his dad, Dave,

mum, Patricia, and little sister, Jo.

Even as a schoolboy he was drawn to two things - animals and adventure.

By the time he was 21, Steve had backpacked around Asia, India

and Africa. A successful career in writing then followed

and at 28, he landed his first TV series.

And the rest is natural history!

He's also a marathon runner, a black belt in martial arts and an author.

And I'm about to pick him up in the exact model of car that would

have whisked him off on the childhood holiday of his lifetime.

No way!

HE LAUGHS

Look at that!

What a great colour!

-Hello, Len. How are you?

-Steve.

I'm good.

Good to see you!

-Good to see you. Look at you!

-How are you?

We're still identical, aren't we?

Look!

I cannot believe you managed to find one of these things still driving.

Yeah. Well, I know your one was grey but we couldn't get a grey one.

This is the absolute car.

I used to sleep in the back seat

when we went on long journeys with my sister.

My sister and I would just curl up in the back under a duvet.

Like a couple of squirrels.

It seemed like the biggest double bed in the entire world.

-And there it is!

-They're so comfortable. It's lovely.

The Princess.

I always bow toward the Princess.

-Yes.

-Yeah.

-Yes.

-We've got a regal beast, indeed.

It is indeed, a regal beast.

-So where are we off to?

-Well, we're going to go wild in Dorset.

What's that mean? Wild in Dor...?

Well, a lot of my childhood holidays were

camping in the New Forest,

or going down to the south coast,

and we're going to relive some of those memories.

Oh, lovely. What's the year?

Eh, 1982.

The year Prince William was born.

Please.

Well, your carriage awaits, Your Royal Highness...

-Thank you very much.

-..jump into the Princess, and off we go.

MUSIC: God Save The Queen

I've got a bad feeling about creepy-crawlies.

That's all I'm saying.

Steve's holiday would see him going wild in the Dorset district

of Purbeck, tucked away in the

southeastern corner of the county,

just across the water

from Poole Harbour.

Purbeck covers 60 square miles,

and is home to Wareham,

Corfe Castle

and the coastal town of Swanage.

With its mossy marshlands,

commanding cliffs and pebbly beach,

an adventure is never far away.

Perfect if you're nuts about nature.

Today, I'll be taking Steve back to relive those halcyon days

'of camping under canvas...'

Oh, look!

That'll do!

'..paddling in rock pools...'

-In the weeds...

-You're slimy.

..there's loads of cool stuff!

'..as we discover whether this holiday laid

'the foundations for a lifelong obsession with the outdoors.'

Before any holiday truly begins, first,

you must set out on the journey, and for nine-year-old Steve and

his family, that meant hitting the road in style. 1980 style, that is.

Sitting in here, does it,

does it feel the same sort of size or

-did you think it was massive?

-No...

No, as a nine-year-old, this car was a tank. It was vast, it was huge.

My sister and I used to curl up in duvets on the back seat

and it was like a four-poster bed.

So was it an early start, you know, going off down to Dorset?

Oh, yes, always, always.

Camping was always a to-do, so you had to get everything ready,

you had to set up the tent, we used to drag a trailer

tent behind the car, so it was a big enterprise, and yes, dawn starts.

-So it's 1982.

-Yes.

-So you were like, how old were you? Like nine?

I was nine, yes, nine years old.

And that was the, that was the absolute best time of my childhood.

I grew up on a small farm,

a smallholding surrounded by animals, rescue animals.

We had an asthmatic donkey and guard dog geese,

a little duckling that would follow my mum around the house

and sit in the sink while she was doing the washing-up.

And then we'd come away to places like this, to the New Forest,

and it was just this wonderland of potential, you know,

things for me to explore and find out about. And it was bliss.

So, it's not really a coincidence

that you became who you became.

-No, absolutely not.

-Because you absolutely grew up, you know,

as an adventurer, you know, yeah,

-exploring the unknown.

-Absolutely.

Whatever I was going to do, it was going to be

something in the outdoors and to do with

-wildlife, nature and adventure.

-Yeah.

I mean, that was in my blood from a very, very young age.

So what did your parents do?

So, Mum and Dad both worked for the airlines,

which was great because it meant that we got to

travel all over the world for free,

fantastic, so we went to Africa and India and South America.

Even when we were babes-in-arms, they would take us

on walking safaris in Zimbabwe and, you know, it was extraordinary.

It was a great, I guess,

-experimental way to live our childhood.

-Yeah.

I've not been, obviously, as adventurous as you

or adventurous at all.

So I'm really going to look forward to our adventure.

-We're going to change all that then...

-Yes.

-We're going to change

all that. I am going to convert you to camping.

Oh, I hope you do.

Go off, the happy wanderer.

Oh, yes.

'So what else was happening in the year that Steve

'and his family were Dorset-bound?'

Back in 1982, Pope John Paul II became the first ever

reigning leader of the Catholic Church

to visit Great Britain.

He made 16 addresses across nine cities,

and over two million people turned out to see him.

Also heading to our shores was the cruise liner the SS Canberra.

She was on her way home carrying hundreds of victorious

British soldiers who were returning to a hero's welcome

after fighting in the Falkland War.

And when it came to music, well,

who could forget this foot-tapping number?

MUSIC: Come On Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners

Not only was this Dexy's Midnight Runners smash hit the bestselling UK

single of the year, but it also went on to top the charts in no

less than eight other countries, including the USA.

Go on, Dexy! Come on, my son!

Woohoo!

# Come on, Eileen

# I love...ba-teen... #

LEN GROANS

Back in 1982, most families that were holidaying in Dorset would be

making a beeline for the beach,

but not the Backshalls. Oh, no,

they were heading for the outback.

This is good. It is. Isn't it?

-It is absolutely fantastic.

-It is wild.

This is the kind of wild that I spent my childhood in.

-Yeah.

-And, you know, wandering through the brambles, getting

scratched up, covered in nettle stings, the smell of the bracken.

That's what my entire young life was about.

Oh, yeah.

I never got that, then. Oh, now look.

Oh, Steve!

Isn't that sensational?

Oh, it's fantastic!

Right, oh, yes.

So this must be Poole over here in the distance?

Yeah, there it is, Poole, yeah.

And this is the sort of, now, surely you wouldn't have,

there's your sister, your mum and dad, you wouldn't have, you know,

suddenly said, "Well, this is a lovely spot to camp in," you know?

-Course we would. Course we would.

-It wasn't a...

This is exactly the kind of place we'd go camping.

It wasn't formatted, you know, in a caravan camping site.

Not usually, cos you have to pay for those.

-It's usually in the corner of a farmer's field somewhere...

-Yeah.

..or in the back of the trees. That's what,

that's what the joy of camping is.

Oh, it's good.

Was your mum and dad quite comfortable with

you, you know, saying,

"Right, I'm going to go off and explore that path."

I think they liked it better that way.

At the beginning of the day, they would boot us

out the front door, just let us run feral all day long

until we got tired or hungry and came back knocking on the door

-going, "Can I have my tea now, please?"

-Right.

And, yeah, that was what our childhood was.

It was just going out and without any kind of

agenda or schedule,

just going and running feral.

Look, there's so much of it. It's vast.

-Shall we have a little...?

-I think we should, cos I think

that there's a few things here that I can show you

-that might surprise you.

-Now, let me ask you something,

-because you're used to long walks, which I'm not.

-Yeah.

Is there...?

-Give me a technique for walking.

-Technique?

Throw your leg forward, heel, toe, and just keep going, there you go.

STEVE CHUCKLES

You don't have to be an action hero like Steve to make

the most of a day out in Dorset.

So step right up, because here

are the first of my seven

superb things to do

in this neck of the woods.

In the heart of Wareham town centre

is this marvellous museum,

full of fascinating artefacts,

both ancient and modern.

As well as the agricultural,

industrial and domestic implements

on display,

there's also an exhibit dedicated

to the legendary Lawrence of Arabia,

who often used to visit the area in

the latter years of his life.

If you love all creatures great

and small, then a visit to the

Margaret Green Animal Sanctuary in

Church Knowle is an absolute must.

Now in its 50th year, this place is

more than just a tourist attraction,

it provides vital care for

a menagerie of homeless,

sick and injured animals.

We rescue about 1,200 animals

a year across our three sites,

and that's a variety of species

including cats, dogs and farm

animals, and what we do is we work

to find them loving, forever homes.

If we have animals in that aren't

suitable to go on for re-homing,

or we can't find the right home

for them, then they stay with us

for the rest of their lives in this

lovely environment.

And when you've finished hanging out

with the horses, you can

even treat yourself

in the on-site cafe.

Tea for me, please. Milk, no sugar.

I'm sweet enough already!

Back in the Dorset heathland,

it's time to take a walk on the wild side,

and I've arranged a trip to a nature reserve just like the one

an eight-year-old Steve Backshall loved so much.

Have a look at this. You see these flowers?

-Yeah.

-These are spotted orchids.

You look at them up close, they're incredibly beautiful, really,

really delicate, fragile flowers

and you could just wander past them, but once you've got your eye in,

they're everywhere, they're dotted all around.

Look at that! Hey!

I've learned something new already, and we've only just arrived.

This man really knows his stuff,

and I intend to take full advantage.

During the course of this adventure, and that's what I'm calling it, it's

no longer Holiday Of My Lifetime, this is The Adventure,

-that's it.

-Yes.

-I might ask you things.

You feel free.

And if I catch you out, you have to give me a shilling.

-Fair enough.

-On we go.

-Fair enough.

Look, look now, just for instance, what are they?

That's just grass.

OK.

I knew that!

It's not just plants that Steve's an expert on, he's also got

a passion for something that gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Oh, no!

My favourite thing is probably reptiles,

and there is nowhere better in the British Isles,

than where we are standing right now, for reptiles.

I don't want to know. What, lizards?

-Lizards and...

-Snakes.

..snakes, yes.

-Trust me.

-Can we go back and have a look at the orchids?

You're in good hands, Len, you're in good hands. Trust me.

Trust me, because I've got some very special things to show you here.

Uh-oh.

Now, Steve really is an expert on stuff like this,

so please, for your own safety, don't go doing it yourself.

This is a Wildlife Trust reserve. You have to have a licence

to do what we're doing here.

Thing is, that corrugated iron warms up quicker than

-everything around it, and so reptiles love it.

-They love it.

(Let's have a little look at what we've got.)

-Hey!

-Ooh!

Ooh!

-It's a long one!

-Yes, success.

And more than one as well.

Lots in fact! Look at all that!

Oh, no, don't. Ooh!

OK, Len, you are so, so lucky.

-Well, you may think that.

-Honestly, this is incredible!

-Don't get too near.

-No, seriously.

-What is that?

-This is...

Which one?

..our rarest snake.

-That?

-This.

These are smooth snakes and this is pretty much the only

place in the country you can find them.

Aren't they absolutely beautiful?

No, well, yeah. Can I...? I'll touch it.

-I tell you what, if you just put your hand...

-Do they bite?

They absolutely don't bite.

If you hold your hand out

-and just let it move naturally over your hand as it wants to go.

-Ooh!

Isn't that lovely?

Yeah, it's not terrible, it's like a...

They're called smooth snakes because their scales are so smooth,

so they're not like a grass snake or

an adder that has keeled scales.

-They don't, they're not sli... I always...

-No!

There you go. That's it, perfect.

You're a natural, Len.

-No, I'm not.

-Yeah, you are.

But I have, I thought I wouldn't even be able to do that.

And I'm braver than I thought.

So, and this,

when you came here as a kid,

this is what you'd be looking for.

My entire life I've been completely obsessed with reptiles,

and particularly with snakes. I'm not really sure

what the fascination is,

but it could be the same thing that, I guess,

-puts the fear of God up some people.

-Yeah.

-I find them exciting.

I think that they have that kind of thrill of the unknown and of the

potentially dangerous,

but at the same time, they're incredibly pretty.

They are, they are.

It's time to pop these little fellahs back, though.

And remember,

there are other kinds of animals living in the British

countryside that could give you a nasty nip,

so don't go trying this yourself, unless, like me,

you've got your very own conservation specialist at hand.

Fabulous.

Well, I've got to admit I didn't think I was going to enjoy that,

but, boy, what a great experience!

And amazingly, this area's suitability for wildlife was

actually determined many millions of years ago.

This area is unique because of its biodiversity.

The large number of different habitats,

which in turn are dependent

on the underlying geology, the coastal

limestone, the Kimmeridge shales,

the sand and gravel beds round Poole Harbour,

and the clay beds associated with them.

And each of these habitats has its own associated flora and fauna,

a lot of specialist species, some of which are quite rare.

With all the rare species that are on offer in this area,

it's no surprise that so many nature lovers

head for these parts.

I think the abundance of wildlife in the area does affect tourism.

People come in to see the sights of

nature conservation interest,

the nature reserves and the preserved areas,

and their range of species,

and it does attract people who are interested in these things.

Memories of childhood holidays are often defined by the accommodation,

whether a B&B by the sea

or caravan in the countryside.

For Steve and his family,

there was no such luxury.

There was nothing they liked more than

spending their nights under canvas.

What were the tents like?

Did you just have one tent that you all slept in

or was there a couple of tents?

No, no. The whole family would be together in one single tent.

-Sleeping bags?

-The way it should be. Yeah, of course.

-Yeah.

-And you were all in there?

-Yeah.

-Ah!

As luck would have it, I just happened to have brought

a tent along today. Now, I'll be honest with you.

I was never in the Boy Scouts, so I'm going to let Steve

take the lead and I'll just pitch in and help.

CHUCKLING: Pitch, get it?

Oh, never mind.

Now, this is complicated.

-What they got?

-What have we got?

Erm, it looks like a tepee.

Oh, it's a belter. That's all right.

Is that the outside or is this waterproof bit here?

No, no, that's the groundsheet so that would go on the ground.

Oh, right.

'Makes sense, I suppose.'

Steve, when you got here, and you got this tent up,

did you play games or anything?

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

So, as soon as the tent was up, the first thing we would do

would probably be to run off or go off on our bikes and explore.

And what about your dad?

What was, did he have hobbies whilst he was here?

My dad is brilliant at the outdoors,

so all of this would really be his domain.

This was his... I've run out of pegs.

Oh, there's some more over there.

Erm, particularly as soon as we started doing,

doing dinner, the barbecue...

-What, these pegs?

-..is like Dad's place.

-These?

Yeah, those would be great.

So, you can't get near my dad if he's making a barbecue -

that is his world, his domain,

the bangers are his.

Where's the, is this the entrance?

Yeah, so I think we just go in there.

That'll do!

Steve, that'll do us!

That's not bad, is it?

No, we've done it.

An hour and a half you used to take. We've done it in minutes.

Well, yeah, I wouldn't try and sleep in it yet.

We have, we have to peg these out next.

So, if you peg those out, those will give it its shape.

There you go. That's the doorway to our new home.

I think that's pretty good, you know, Len.

We've done that in about five minutes. Home sweet home.

-Shall we venture in?

-I think we should.

With our new home pitched

and looking pretty perfect to me,

it's time for Steve and I to have an

"intense" chat about how

he got his big career break.

So, you know, after University,

you started writing the Rough Guides.

-Yes.

-All over the world.

-Yeah, exactly.

-Was it glamorous?

-No.

No, it was, it was pretty far from glamorous.

I was essentially a backpacker,

and I was going around and testing out hostels and places to eat, and

writing about them and saying which ones you

should go to and which ones you should avoid.

And it was a great way of exploring and travelling,

but I had an idea for something more dramatic.

-Oh, right.

-Yeah.

-And is that when the television work came along?

-Yes.

What was the idea? Come on.

So, what the idea was, essentially,

that I was going to go off and film myself on expeditions,

just taking the camera, and filming myself, turning it around,

looking at myself like that.

And I went away to Colombia

for about a month or so, filmed myself in the jungle,

catching snakes and spiders and scorpions,

and it got bought by the National Geographic,

and they turned me into their adventurer in residence.

Oooh.

It's a pretty grand-sounding title, isn't it?

You know, you're almost like doing selfies, but...

-with a camera.

-Exactly.

That's exactly it, yeah.

So, I was going around and I would,

I would catch a snake in that hand

and be filming myself with the camera turned around like that,

talking about it, and it was, you know,

the ultimate one-man band,

but it seemed to work.

I spent five years doing that before I came to the BBC.

Fantastic.

What a guy Steve Backshall is. Always hungry for the next challenge

and speaking of hungry, I'm getting more than

a tad peckish myself.

For most people, what you eat

when you're away is always a big part of

any holiday experience.

And for Steve and his family, that means cooking outdoors,

so I've got a real treat in store.

OK, so it might not look much at the moment,

but with Steve's cooking capabilities and this campfire,

I'm confident we'll soon have a meal fit for a king.

-There we go.

-Let me get the sausages.

Oh, look at that!

-They're all going on, I suppose.

-They are, yes.

I'm going to cut them and prick them first.

The great British banger.

Now, you've travelled all over the world,

sampled every type of food.

What's the worst thing you've had, you know, and thought,

"Well, I'll give it a go"?

Erm, well, I mean, I just spend a lot of time eating freeze dried

food and boil-in-the-bag food when you're on expeditions,

but every once in a while, you will live with a tribe, and you

kind of have to eat what they're having as a matter of courtesy,

and I've had all sorts. I've had rat and bat and cat.

Probably the worst I've had was...

I drank a pint of blood that

had just come out of a bull.

This was a tribal ritual in Indonesia

and it was still kind of warm and salty

and it was absolutely horrible

but, because you're being polite, you have no choice.

You have to treat it like it's a glass of finest champagne.

-Delicious.

-Yes, exactly. Yeah.

Oh, look, they're turning... Oh-ho!

-Oh, joy of joys. Turn them over, Steve.

-I shall.

How did the children's television come along?

I came to the BBC and started

working on The Really Wild Show.

I spent a few years there and it was great fun.

I really enjoyed myself, but then, that came to an end,

and I was sort of thinking

there still had to be

a wildlife programme for kids on the BBC.

It was, it was essential. It was something that we had to do.

And I came up with this idea called Venom Hunter,

where I was going to go out and I was going to find

all of these incredible venomous

and poisonous creatures around the world,

and I sold it to CBBC and that was

-what became Deadly.

-Yeah.

And Deadly has been the biggest thing in the last, probably,

seven years of my life, and seeing the effect that it's

-had on kids and on families is incredible.

-Yeah.

You know, I've gone and done live days with Deadly

where 14,000 people will turn up in a day

to hear me talk about animals.

-Amazing.

-I know! And seeing the excitement

and the enthusiasm from young people

for the wild world,

it's brilliant.

And I'll tell you what else is looking brilliant - those bangers.

Come on, chef, time to serve them up.

There is no finer moment than...

No. Are you ready?

-..something you've cooked yourself over your own fire.

-No.

-All the best.

-Chin-chin.

Mmm.

Oh, lovely.

LEN CHUCKLES

Oh, Steven!

LEN LAUGHS

I might have to have two.

Now, after you've had your sausage, you know, round,

with your mum and dad, what would you have had?

What would you have had as a pudding?

Pudding was always

butterscotch Angel Delight.

Well, it's funny you should say that, Steve,

because guess what else I've got in my cooler bag today?

No way!

-You are not serious.

-This is for me.

Wow! I, that...

-You've got a jam roly-poly.

-Unbelieve...

I haven't eaten this in 30 years.

There we go.

Aw.

Sweet, sugary goodness.

How can I have been without that for three decades?

It's nice, isn't it?

That is a little taste of childhood right there.

Isn't that gorgeous?

It is, that's my boyhood in a bowl.

My boyhood in a bowl!

And whilst Steve and I polish off our pudding,

here are more of my seven dazzling things to do in Dorset.

You can take your own trip down memory lane

and watch a great film,

here at the art-deco Rex cinema

in the nearby town of Wareham.

Originally built as a banqueting

hall in the 1880s,

films have been shown on this site since 1920.

We try to retain the old cinema

feel of the place,

so we don't do much in the way

of renovations very much.

Our last major renovation was

the early 1950s when this ceiling

was installed and the decor that

you see around you was

established, and we've tried to keep

it like that ever since.

The surroundings may be olde-worlde,

but you can still catch all the

latest Hollywood blockbusters here,

as well as silver screen classics.

Oi! Pass the popcorn.

Lulworth Castle was built in the

early 17th century by the third

Lord Bindon, Thomas Howard.

Back then it was used to entertain

upper-class and royal hunting

parties, but since 1998, it's opened

its doors to commoners like us.

The exterior of the castle has

barely changed over the years,

but the inside was gutted

by a devastating fire in 1929.

It's been renovated, though,

and stepping inside still transports

you back to the days of old.

It's open until five

during the summer months,

but if you want to stay any later,

have a quiet word with this chap.

Apparently, he does a night shift.

LEN LAUGHS

Back in the early 1980s,

Steve Backshall's childhood holidays were all about the great outdoors,

whether that meant pitching a tent amongst

the trees or searching for snakes, but right now,

I want to see if he's sporty as well as adventurous.

-Steve, I want you to meet Robin.

-Hello, there.

Now I gather you have done archery, you were an archer,

-or this is something...?

-Once, no, once. In Bhutan, in the Himalayas.

It's their, it's their national sport and they fire arrows,

and I tried it, literally one arrow,

which went about five metres

and planted endways down into the ground. So, no, I'm not an archer.

But I think if we've learnt anything about Steve today,

it's that he's not the type to shy away from a challenge.

Keep your fingers under there and pull

and bring it up to your cheekbone and look down the point and line

the point up with the centre of the bow and let go.

And that's not bad going.

Not bad for the first try.

-Let me go round here. Let me, I want to watch...

-Are you sure, Len?

-Yes, I want to watch you...

-That could be dangerous.

-I want to see your...

-OK, here we go.

-..bow ability.

-Exactly the same place.

-I think a bit of breeze got up.

-You are going to have a go at this, aren't you?

-Of course I am.

Pull it right back up to your cheekbone...

ALL: Ohhh!

That's not right. My third arrow!

-I think that is very, very commendable.

-Thank you very much.

-And I'm giving you a nine.

-A nine?

-You're getting a nine.

You certainly never gave me that on Strictly.

ROBIN LAUGHS

Right, it's time for the young guns to step aside.

I'm about to show Steve how this is done.

Forget Robin of Sherwood, this is Len of Dartford.

-RECORD SCRATCHES

-Oh, my life!

It's gone into the next county!

There's a mole there with a sore head.

Len, you're stronger than you thought!

You practically sent it into orbit!

'Obviously, that was a practice shot.

'Now for the real thing.'

THEY CHEER

'It really was me!'

Look at that beauty!

-Look right there!

-Thank...

It's a ten for Len!

-How about that?

-Ohhh! Oh, no!

When it comes to beaches,

Dorset has got some of the finest in the country.

But they're not just pleasing to the eye.

Many of them have great geological significance too.

Over the decades, erm,

the landscape and the natural

environment of Dorset has been

protected more and more,

and for example, the,

almost the whole of the coast is now a World Heritage Site.

This is on account of the amazing geology that you can

see in the coast.

Geologists have known about this for decades and, of course,

holiday makers have been coming here as well,

but it was a recognition of the amazing importance of this

coast that it was designated a World Heritage Site.

And it's not just natural history that this area is famed for.

There's been a fair amount of crime and skulduggery too.

The coast is ideal for smugglers

because there are lots of sea caves,

secluded beaches, and all sorts

of places to hide contraband,

drink and all sorts of luxury products.

With such a history of intrigue and adventure, it's hardly surprising to

learn that a young Steve Backshall

liked nothing more than the beach.

And all these years later he's taken me

back to one of his favourite childhood coves.

I can just picture it now -

ice cream, deckchairs, and maybe even a stick of rock.

Oh, I can't wait.

Steve, when you said I'd love to go down to the sea

and go on the beach, I thought, "Oh, lovely."

But typical!

No, it can't just be on a nice sandy beach

and we have a little game of rounders.

No, we've got to come here...

But this is lovely.

Well, it is lovely, but it's, like, icky.

This is what I think of when I think of the beach. It's, it's this.

It's wandering around, as the tide goes out, and everything's covered

in weed and there's loads of animals hiding in amongst it all,

and crabs and blennies and gobies and octopus.

It's, it's fantastic fun. You've got to trust me on this.

You know it's slimy?

It is slimy. It's slimy...

-That's slimy.

-..and it's slick, and it's not easy to move around.

But this is an absolute joy.

Well, I'm going to stand here because I've got, like, a dry patch.

-All right, you stay...

-You're not going to walk in all that oik?

-This isn't oik!

-Oh, no, Steve, no, Steve. You'll disappear!

Look! Look! I've got a crab.

Admittedly, it's a dead one, but that's a little edible crab.

-You know the crabs that you get for supper?

-Yeah.

That's a youngster of that.

-There's your starter.

-It is, it is.

See, in amongst all this lot,

seriously, in the weeds,

there's loads of cool stuff.

Steve, when you were nine years old,

would you still have done this?

You know, barefoot,

roll your trousers up and in you go?

Yeah, I never wore shoes when I was nine years old.

That bit hasn't really changed that much.

Catching crabs was just like my absolute

best way of spending the day when I was a kid.

Is it true that you were once nearly swallowed by a humpback whale?

Yes, that is absolutely true.

I was in my kayak and 15 humpback whales came raging up to the

surface, scoffing down mouthfuls of herring,

and very, very nearly swallowed me.

I was a foot away from all of the whales.

Oh, amazing. That Steve Backshall, I promise you,

is my hero.

When I was at school, it was my mate Malcolm Withall,

cos he could yodel, but I've got to say now -

Steve is a hero.

Look what he does!

Walking in all this slime and stuff,

campfires, erecting tents...

Is there nothing the man can't do?

Well, yes, there is.

Ballroom dance.

Don't tell him!

Here are a few things you

can tell everybody about, though.

My final three things to do

when you're down in Dorset.

If you really want to go wild,

then swing by the world-famous

Monkey World in Wareham.

Here you can see over 250 primates

that have been rescued

from all over the world and re-homed

here in the Dorset countryside.

As well as marvelling at the antics

of these cheeky little chappies,

you can also enjoy

the fact that your visit is

ensuring their ongoing safety

and rehabilitation.

Just a 15-minute stroll

from the picturesque village of

West Lulworth is quite possibly one

of the best beauty spots in Dorset.

Stair Hole is

a picture-postcard cove,

made from a visible folded

limestone strata.

By standing on the top of the cliff,

you can see all sorts of natural

rock configurations including

blowholes, arches,

stacks and stumps.

Personally, I'm happy just to

sit back and take in

those glorious views.

Glorious!

It's time to roll out the

big guns now as I reveal my

number one thing to do

if you're having a day out in Dorset.

Originally established to teach

British soldiers all about

armoured warfare, The Tank Museum in Bovington

is now open to the public.

What we try and do here

at The Tank Museum is tell

a story of armoured warfare,

the invention of the tank,

why it was put together

in the First World War,

and how that's developed through time

and how it's been an object that's had such an

influence on 20th-century history.

There are 300 vehicles on display

at the museum from all four

corners of the globe.

The collection here is, undoubtedly,

the best in the world.

It's not necessarily the biggest,

but we've got the most important.

We've got the very first tank ever,

we've got the best collection of

First World War tanks anywhere

in the world, the most remaining.

We've also got probably the most

famous tank in the world, now,

our Tiger 131 and that's a tank that

over time we've restored,

we've done a lot of work on,

and that we run for the public

as well, at special events.

So they can come along and see what British and Allied tank crewmen

were up against in World War II.

Now, THAT is one high-calibre attraction.

Our day out in Dorset is almost done,

but before our adventure ends,

I want to know exactly what spurs

Steve on to lead such an exciting life.

Lovely.

Aw.

You know, you start walking in pebbles...

Well, not for you, trained athlete,

but it is for me.

Is there something in you that makes you, you know,

search out new challenges, new things?

Yeah, there is.

That's why I did Strictly, really. It was because

it was something that was very, very

different from anything that I'd done before and something

that I knew I would find really, really hard.

I mean, I have a limited amount of excitement for things that

I know I can do easily.

I want to challenge myself,

and learning to dance with a bunch

of people who were tangibly better than I was

was a real challenge.

Yeah, but having said that, you did absolutely go for it, didn't you?

You know, there was no, sort of,

half-heartedness about the way you...

You know, you really

put yourself into it lock, stock and barrel.

Well, you know, that's something I got from my mum.

My mum's maxim for life is that if a job's worth doing,

it's worth doing well,

and you do everything 100%.

There's no point doing things by halves.

So, you know, I knew I wasn't going to be great,

but I was never going to do it

-by half-measures, I was always going to give it my all.

-Yeah.

And do you think coming down here with your mum and dad,

you know, going off and camping,

and coming, looking for crabs,

do you think that sort of holiday, back then as a child,

shaped who you became?

Yeah, definitely. I mean, this is very much what I still do now.

If I have free time, I come down to the coast

and I go wandering around looking for crabs and climbing rocks.

And, you know, I've managed to make a whole life

out of the things that I loved doing when I was small

-and, you know, not everyone gets that privilege in life.

-No.

I can be a five-year-old boy every single day of my adult life.

-And how many people get to say that?

-None.

-Yeah.

-I mean, to come down here today

with you and rediscover all this stuff with fresh eyes,

-it lets me remember quite how lucky I am.

-Yeah.

Are there any challenges that you haven't done that you think,

"That's on my bucket list of things I want to do."?

There's loads. More than anything, I suppose,

I'd love to have a family.

You know, I've got a girlfriend that I live with now and I'd love

to be able to get married and have kids,

and do all of that sort of stuff.

On the challenge front, there are so many mountains

that are out there still to be climbed.

Could be anything, could be a massive waterfall, could be

a vast cavern, it could be an animal no-one has ever seen before.

There's an excitement to that I would just love to be able to

-bottle and sell because it would be priceless.

-Yeah.

You know what? You've inspired me. Know what I'll do as soon as this is over?

I'll climb up that cliff. I'm not mucking about. I'll go straight up it.

I've got the ropes in the car.

I really have.

Well, maybe we'll play French cricket instead.

What a day we've had!

We arrived in style and

put our best foot forward.

Throw your leg forward, heel, toe, and just keep going. There you go.

Exploring the wildest side of what Dorset has to offer.

What are they?

That's just grass.

OK.

Steve showed me the fine art of setting up camp.

There you go. That's the doorway to our new home.

But I certainly taught him a thing or two

when it came to using a bow and arrow.

THEY CHEER

Look at that!

-Thank...

-It's a ten for Len!

-Yes!

The fun's not over yet, because I've got

a very special gift for Steve.

I want a copy of this.

Right. OK.

Because this is a scrapbook

of memories from our day together.

Aw, that's fantastic, Len.

That will have pride of place in my house.

Hopefully, these photos

will remind Steve of

our day out in Dorset

for many year to come.

I love it.

I absolutely love it!

Thank you so, so much.

-For me, you are Mr Natural History.

-Right.

-Right.

You are, and you're fascinating,

and when I grow up, I want to be just like you.

Great day.

So, it's farewell from the wilds of Dorset,

a land of woodland walks, rolling heaths

and rugged rock faces.

It's no wonder it was the ideal playground for a young

Steve Backshall when he was growing up,

and home to those all-important holidays of his lifetime.