Deadly 60

- Season 1

(2009)

Steve begins his search for the world's deadliest animals in South Africa where he has a terrifying encounter with a hippopotamus, finds a surprisingly docile spider and declares Africa's deadliest species of snake.

Continuing his search in South Africa's Kruger National Park, Steve watches a fish eagle catch it's prey, tests the strength of a spider's web and shows just how hard it is for Africa's big cats to stalk their prey by trying it himself.

Steve concludes his South African adventure in the Cape where he's chased by a honey badger, mauled by a caracal at a wildlife sanctuary and swims with docile stingrays, an animal with a bad reputation after the death of Steve Irwin.

Steve heads to Australia where he's joined by Aussie herpetologist Mitch to look for a tiger snake in Perth's parks and backyards. Off the coast, the team encounter sea lions, pelicans and dolphins.

In Queensland Steve finds an invasive cane toad and meets a victim of a tick bite at a veterinary clinic before heading into the forest in search of deadly reptiles and the notorious black widow or redback spider.

While Steve and his team try to catch an elusive platypus on camera in South Australia, they encounter a kangaroo and a trapdoor spider. Later, Steve heads into the sea to observe the giant Australian cuttlefish.

Steve heads north for the final part of his Australian adventure where he helps catch a saltwater crocodile before hitting the road to witness a bushfire and track down ghost bats at an abandoned goldmine.

In India Steve joins his old friend Gerry for a snake hunt, proves that the sloth bear is deadlier than the tiger and gets a lesson in praying mantis style kung fu from a local grandmaster.

Continuing his search in India, Steve admires the Gharial, a native species of crocodile before heading on a wild hunt for tigers which brings the crew dangerously close to charging elephants.

Steve and his team make their way through Borneo's rainforests, braving bloodsucking tiger leeches before descending into the Gomantong Caves, home to insect eating bats and the venomous centipede scutigera.

Steve goes diving in Borneo's seas, not knowing what deadly creatures he'll find. In the reef he encounters the impressive lionfish and mantis shrimp but it's a giant shoal of barracuda that amazes him most.

Back home in Britain, Steve takes on gannets in a diving competition, comes face-to-face with the only snake that has ever hospitalised him and uncovers a hornets' nest in a loft as he proves that British wildlife is anything but boring.

Steve heads to Scotland where he joins his hero Terry Nutkins to watch otters before observing the aquatic raft spider hunting it's prey and finally racing a peregrine falcon in a sports car, Top Gear style.

Looking to find a polar bear, Steve and the crew take a flight to frozen Alaska where they also encounter an arctic fox and a wolverine. Later, they go river rafting to watch bald eagles and brown bears catch salmon.

Leaving Alaska behind, Steve heads to Arizona's Sonoran Desert, an environment that couldn't be more different. There he shows off the harris hawk, goes hunting for a mountain lion and finds a rattlesnake.

In Louisiana, Steve's team searches for bayou (marshland) killer species, several of which are named after the iconic alligator, of which he visits the zoo-bred, spooky albino variety. The list starts with a fish whose mouth looks like a crocodile's. In between, a subaquatic fish-eating snake, a water-surface-mobile spider and an alien, the accidentally imported Latin American fire-ants. The list's champion is a turtle, who beak snaps faster and with more force then any other living predator's.

Steve takes his camera time diving in the Caribean near the Bahamas. he concentrates on sharks, a prehistoric family of predators, the many members of which divide the seas in habitats to feed on all types of aquatic prey. Despote their predatory mastery, they prove inoffensive, yet inquisitive concerning the boys.

Steve enjoys using a helicopter to roam the Brazilian savanna, in search a the giant anteater, who breaks into concrete-hard termite castles. In the forest, he selects from the invertebrate insectivores the wold's most poisonous spider, a snake and a scorpion. Back in the field, a rabbit owl, who uses the dirtiest hunting strategy.

All the animals that made it onto Steve's list are deadly in their own right, but a handful of them are deadly to humans. This programme looks at those animals in detail, dispelling myths and showing just how incredible they truly are.