Presenter Steve Backshall shares his experience of meeting fierce wild elephants and killer beasts in his mission to find the world’s deadliest animals for the show Deadly 60, Series 4. By Team Viva

In the show Deadly 60, Series 4, explorer Steve Backshall comes face to face with lethal beauties and killer beasts in his mission to find the world’s deadliest animals. He meets fierce forest elephants in the wilds of Gabon, searches Bali for the elusive sunfish and experiences the ferocity of the South African serval. The series also looks at the perilous future facing some of these deadly animals and reveals the work being done by wildlife conservationists to protect them. With stunning footage and fascinating facts, it  brings you close with some of the world’s most fearsome creatures. Just don’t forget to watch your back. Excerpts:

During the filming of the show Deadly 60, did you have any heart-stopping animal encounters?

There were certainly some nervy moments.  Being charged by a furious matriarch Elephant had hearts in mouths, as did the snarling spitting Bengal tiger that gave us a fright in India. However, after another year in close proximity to some of the world’s most feared animals, I can still say with confidence that people are at far more danger from other people than they are from supposedly fierce wild animals.

Can you chalk down some personal highlights from the show?

There were too many highlights to mention, although seeing my first ever great hammerhead shark at a distance of about half a meter would be up there, as would being the first film crew ever to film vampire-Esque ghost bats in an abandoned gold mine in Australia. But a lowlight would have to be losing my swimming trunks when trying to emulate the aquatic acrobatics of the yellowfin tuna.

Were there any creatures that you found unappealing?

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! It’s a pretty creepy place but I still found the animals more fascinating than repulsive.

With just 60 creatures to narrow down from millions around the world, what criteria did you use when selecting the animals for the list?

For me, it’s about animals that are the absolute best at what they do — being sublime predators within their world. Every creature right from ants to elephants was considered. The list itself is mine and entirely subjective. Many of our Deadly 60 stars were essential creatures we set out to find, others were ones we happened upon on during wild searches and just had to include. There’s no way we could have come up with an exhaustive list in the time we had, and there are still so many more animals that are worthy of inclusion.

You seemed to break your back last year in a climbing accident. Did it affect your confidence in climbing?

Climbing is never going to be 100 per cent safe but the one I do while working is under much stricter guidelines than the climbing I do in my spare time. The accident could never have happened whilst I was at work because I wouldn’t have been pushing the envelope as seriously as I was. That said, I am very lucky to be alive and walking, and will probably never get my confidence back to where it was before my fall — Although I am already back climbing again.

You have a successful career in TV and writing, travelling the world — doing exactly what you love. Did you always harbour dreams of a life of adventure?

I had never dreamed all this as a kid. I wanted to be a ranger in an African safari park, an explorer, then a writer. They all seemed like impossible dreams back then and I can remember the face of my school’s career teacher now as he suggested I should be a fireman. Somehow, I seem to have managed something even more extraordinary. I’d love to catch up with that careers adviser now.

(The show premieres on November 16 at 9 pm on Sony BBC Earth)