How to watch Shark with Steve Backshall

By Paul McGuinness

Published: Friday, 19 November 2021 at 12:00 am

When is Shark with Steve Backshall on TV?

Sharks is a brand-new four-part documentary series on Sky Nature, with all episodes available from 7 November.

What is Shark with Steve Backshall about?

BBC Wildlife editor Paul McGuinness asked presenter Steve Backshall what we can expect to see in the series…

"Steve
Shark with Steve Backshall is a revelatory series that celebrates the wonder of sharks and dispels the myth of sharks as just cold blooded killers. © Sky

“What you won’t see is anything about shark attacks or man-eaters, or sharks in any way posing a threat to us as human beings. I wanted to make a series that was, pure and simple, about the beauty and wonder and majesty of sharks and the threats they face.

“We’ve taken on all of the iconic species – the great hammerheads, the tigers, the bulls, the great whites, the oceanic white tips. But we’ve also taken on some of the lesser-known species – the lantern sharks, cat sharks, epaulette sharks, pyjama sharks – the ones that people may not necessarily know about.

“And my hope is that it will bring onside a whole bunch of people who don’t even really realise quite how much they like sharks.”

"Steve
Steve snorkelling with a Critically Endangered oceanic whitetip shark. © Sky

How much did you dive with sharks in this series?

“It’s a combination. People have been bandying around the term ‘new chip’ to talk about synthesis kind of projects where you have elements of blue-chip natural history, which I will be purely voicing over and where I wasn’t present, and moments where I am interacting with sharks in their environment.

“And so there is a combination of those grandest, most majestic images of sharks in their natural habitat, filmed by the very best natural history camera people in the world, over time, to have a chance of seeing their behaviour.

“And then interactions in the moment, whether that be trying to release oceanic white tip, nurse or dusky sharks that have been entangled or are carrying hooks, or whether it be down on the bottom with tasselled wobbegongs or in a cave in South Africa alongside ragged-tooth sharks. So I hope that there is something in there for everyone, from biologists and shark saviours, through to people who know very little more than Jaws and great whites.”

Learn more about sharks: 

How much of Shark with Steve Backshall was filmed around the UK?

“One whole programme has been solely shot in British waters – and not just the obvious basking sharks and blue sharks but things like lesser-spotted cat shark and skates, rays and other shark relatives that we have here in our seas.

“As well as delving into the natural history of things that people may not realise are vagrant visitors into our shores, things like the Greenland shark. That was really important to me, that one, and I think particularly for your readers because a lot of people, even biologists may not realise quite how many species of sharks we have in our seas. I’m a shark fanatic and I didn’t realise that we’d had scalloped hammerheads coming through our waters and that we’d had Greenland sharks washed up on our shores.”

Read the full interview, in which Steve Backshall explains how Instagram may hold the key to sharks’ survival, in the January issue of BBC Wildlife magazine, on sale 16th December. 

Watch the trailer for Shark with Steve Backshall