Steve Backshall explains what Deadly Live is all about and why he's excited to bring it to the North East.
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00:00chatting to you because you're bringing deadly live to talk arenas across the uk and for the
00:05first time so can i ask why yeah so i've been touring now for about 12 years um i've done
00:12tours in in asia and australia here in the uk they've always gone really well and it seemed like
00:19it was time to step things up so time to make everything bigger time to look at deadly through
00:26time all the way back through evolution back to uh the time of the dinosaurs even before the time
00:30of dinosaurs and see how animals have changed to talk about all of their adaptations to talk about
00:37how eyesight and different animals functions differently and may help a predator be able to
00:42focus on its prey talk about bite and venom and hearing and super senses and super skills
00:47and to be able to illustrate that with size so you know an awful lot of the stuff that i do even in a
00:54big theater being able to have a life-sized whale on stage is really hard because they're massive
01:00being able to have life-sized dinosaurs on stage is really hard because they're enormous
01:04well when you're in an arena but all of that becomes possible so my idea is that we are going
01:11to create this cacophony of nature that is going to be red in tooth and claw that is going to be
01:16full of um of good science you know bits of it are going to be like a ted talk and then the next
01:22second it's going to be like a christmas panto and then the next second it's going to be circus
01:26skills and stunts and techniques and experiments and things going bang and me getting hosed down
01:30from head to toe and poo and it's going to be all of the things that i think people have loved
01:36about deadly over the years and then some yeah and you're starting the tour in newcastle so can i
01:42ask how you're feeling about going up to the northeast well it's it's a really really good thing
01:47to be starting somewhere that is always so welcoming every single time i've done a tour in
01:52in newcastle sunderland middlesbrough you you go there and automatically you walk in and there's a
01:59like oh hey we're here for a great night it's going to be fun um you know everybody in the northeast goes
02:06out having looking to have a good time people are not going out looking to tear you apart and so
02:13it's the perfect place for me to get started i think and will you have a chance to see any more
02:19of newcastle whilst you're there i doubt it i very much doubt it um you know i i think i am going to
02:26be so panicked i am going to be so up against it because you know i'm writing the show myself i'm
02:32producing and directing it myself and all of the ideas that are in it are coming from me some of which
02:38are going to fail spectacularly and i'm not going to know how badly they're going to fail until we're
02:43in rehearsals so yeah i think that there's going to there's going to be bits that do far better than
02:49i'd expect there are going to be bits that are an absolute catastrophe and i am likely to be so
02:55stressed and so anxious that the last thing that's going to be on my mind is going out for a pint
02:59maybe after can you tell me maybe link to the pint what the deadliest thing you might find in
03:08newcastle or off the north sea is oh well i mean crumbs the uh the farne islands off northumberland
03:13are one of the finest places places for wildlife in the whole of not just our nation but the whole
03:19of the continent you know going out there looking at the seabirds um swimming with gray seals
03:24is utterly spectacular what a stretch of coastline that is so yeah we've done quite a lot of filming
03:30in northumberland actually i know it's not exactly newcastle gateshead but it's you know it is
03:35certainly somewhere in our nation that is replete with fabulous wildlife why should people get tickets
03:42to come see you i think that it's going to be an absolute riot there is a lot in this that they will
03:49not have seen before it's going to it's going to dance from panto and slapstick and fun and silliness
03:57and you know absolute lunatic craziness to real serious science and i guarantee that no matter who
04:05you are there is going to be some science in here about animals that you have not heard of before you
04:08know or every time i've done one of these shows there there have been professors of biology in the
04:13audience who've gone i never thought of it like that before or i never heard that fact before is that
04:17really true and i promise that even if you're into wildlife there's going to be something in this
04:22show that will make you think there'll be something in there that you haven't heard before and it will
04:26probably be followed by me getting hosed down in in gunge or or poo or it could be you know a life-sized
04:34t-rex stampeding across the stage you know it is going to be an absolute rollicking ride and it's going to
04:42take in the entire evolution of life on our planet through to the present day so if you like fun if
04:49you like animals if you like wildlife and if you don't like any of that but you just like seeing me
04:52get hosed down in dino poo this is the show for you
04:55you