ben lawrie / DIRECTOR
Documentaries for Brands & Broadcasters
extreme mountain challenge
2x60' BBC2 / BBC Worldwide, TX 2016
extreme mountain challenge
2x60' BBC2 / BBC Worldwide, TX 2016
Adventurer and naturalist Steve Backshall embarks on one of the most dramatic and dangerous expeditions ever filmed by a BBC crew.
His mission is to explore Venezuela's tepuis - ancient, sheer-sided mountains, lost worlds cut off from the jungle below.
With an elite team of rock climbers, Steve attempts the first ascent of an unclimbed wall on a remote tepui to search for wildlife on the summit. But nobody could have predicted what would happen, nor the kinds of decisions they'd be forced to make.
A white-knuckle ride from the start, the team encounter river rapids and hazardous wildlife, and survive a close shave with a rickety biplane.
Yet nothing can prepare them for their climb to the island in the sky...
Pretitle Sequence
Wandering Spider
The Storm
Jungle Rapids
“Extreme Mountain Challenge will have you cowering behind the sofa if you hate heights, scorpions, or the tarantula-eating wasp that made Darwin doubt the existence of God. Seriously, palm-sweating, nail-biting stuff; hypnotic if you can keep your eyes uncovered.”
“Unmissable.”
"For once, a series that lives up to the hyperbole of its title. The expedition, already foolhardy, is blighted by freak weather, rock falls and the dangerous wildlife that lurks inside and outside of the tepuis.”
“Must see TV.”
“It’s a white-knuckle ride… one of the Beeb’s most dramatic expeditions yet.”
“Exciting stuff.”
“Just occasionally, a programme comes along that is sufficiently hardcore to actually live up to its title. Or, in extraordinary circumstances, to exceed it. This is one of the most gripping and extraordinary documentaries I have seen in some time.”
“Edge of your seat stuff and fascinating, too.”
“There must be times when TV crews yearn to be reassigned to the safety of Flog It. Those on Steve Backshall’s new series are instead confronted with life-threatening rockfalls, ground-skimming biplanes and a creature so unpleasant it led to Darwin disbelieving in God.”
“Viewers with a fear of heights should steer well clear… it’s dizzying stuff.”