Steve Backshall

Most of my job is out in the wild, miles away from the public and it's nice to see people and hear what they like and don't like about the shows. It's really helpful.

I want to share my passion for the world's beauty and give others new reasons to care.

I am very driven by things that scare and frighten me, and things that might be tough for me.

I honestly expected me learning Welsh to be met with a certain amount of cynicism, even outright hostility from some. But that hasn't happened.

I come from an area of southern England that is utterly homogenous. All the history near me is about royalty and fealty, things which leave me cold. I lack roots, and have great warmth for places that have them.

I take my laptop everywhere with me, and I will write on long journeys. I will write sitting in my hammock in the middle of the rainforest. When everybody else is chilling out after filming, I am usually writing!

I read most often when I am on the road, travelling on my journeys. In cars, on planes, trains... I'm very lucky that I don't get car sick when I am reading and I can spend really long journeys immersed in a book!

The scariest animal is without doubt human beings. We are the only species that decimates the very environment that we require to live.

If I could be any animal I'd probably be a wandering albatross, the bird with the largest wing span. Being able to cover huge distances of sea every single day would be wonderful!

I love what I do for a living and even if I wasn't getting paid for it I would still pursue an active, outdoors lifestyle, researching animals and looking after them.

People that love dogs have an emotional connection with them and I just think they are the most loving and fun pets you can have.

I grew up on a small holding, it was a great way to grow up and incredibly idyllic. We had a donkey and Barney the guard dog, geese, a duckling that followed my mum around and used to sit in the washing up bowl.

I don't think your life can be complete without a dog.

Many of the animals that are traditionally seen as vermin are my life's fascination.

I know plenty of people who live in the country who have never seen a badger. They are definitely there, but these nocturnal delights remain elusive, and thus are still a thrill.

We have a fantastic array of birds of prey here in the U.K.

The flesh-eating cockroaches and venomous centipedes in the Gomantong cave in Borneo were pretty unsavoury. They turn the floor of the cave, which is itself the world's largest pile of bird and bat poo, into a seething mass of invertebrate horror!

Being charged by a furious matriarch elephant certainly had hearts in mouths, as did the snarling spitting Bengal tiger that gave us a fright in India.

And there are very few wild animals that can't run down a human being; the big predators would run down Usain Bolt without even thinking about it. So your only chance is to stand your ground!

I was a big reader when I was a kid.