'Wild Show' host breaks his back

Rex Features

Former Really Wild Show host Steve Backshall has broken his back in a rock-climbing incident in Gloucestershire.

The wildlife expert, 35, fell 25ft from a rock face in the Wye Valley when his safety equipment failed. His spine and left leg were broken in the accident last weekend, but doctors told him that he would be fully recovered in six weeks.

"The rock was still a bit wet from an earlier shower, so the route I was trying was harder than normal," Backshall told The Gloucestershire Echo.

"I stopped for a rest but the next thing I knew, I was heading very quickly towards the ground. I can't begin to describe how painful it was - it's worse than anything I'd ever experienced before."

The Really Wild Show was cancelled in 2006 but Backshall remains a wildlife presenter for the BBC, based in Bristol.