★★★★★

A TWO-HOUR lecture on zoology to a hall packed with hundreds of oversugared pre-teenagers struggling towards bedtime could have been a disaster. But if you are Steve Backshall, the heroic presenter of CBBC’s Deadly 60, this is an easy night’s work: show some clips, talk about the wonders of wildlife, throw in a couple of Q&As, hang around for a good hour afterwards for photos and everyone goes home happy.

It works because Backshall is a brilliant producer of adventure television, an action man presenter unafraid to put himself into countless perilous confrontations with nature’s most dangerous creatures.

The show is an opportunity to share his stunning back catalogue of closeup encounters with sharks, spiders, crocodiles and (my favourite) polar bears. He successfully conceals the months and years of research – the hours of nothing happening – required to bring these moments to our TV screens.

While this is a fully geared up commercial venture, I watched closely for shtick, for something fake.

But the real feeling coming off the stage was of unfeigned enthusiasm and knowledge of his subject.

Backshall has an unvarnished authenticity which his audience responds to. His remarkably informed young fans shout out the names of the creatures as they appear on screen: “snapper turtle!”, “peacock spider!”, “goblin shark!”