The beloved broadcaster and nature presenter Steve Backshall is back on the big screen tonight, in his new 90-minute documentary: Steve Backshall's Royal Arctic Challenge.
The new ITV special will see the 52-year-old explorer recreate some of the most memorable moments from King Charles' 1975 trip to the Canadian Arctic, highlighting how the region is being dramatically affected by climate change, a cause about which the monarch is incredibly passionate.
However, away from the big screen and spotlight, Steve lives a much simpler life with his wife, Olympic rower Helen Glover, and the three children they share. Scroll down to learn everything there is to know about Steve Backshall and Helen Glover's family…
Steve Backshall and Helen Glover have three children
Having tied the knot in Cornwall on September 10, 2016, the couple announced that they were starting a family a year and a half later. In March 2018, they announced that they were expecting twins.
However, a month later, one of the twins tragically died in the womb. On 24 July 2018, their baby boy, Logan, was born, and less than two years later, on 17 January 2020, they revealed that Helen had given birth to twins, one boy and one girl: Kit and Willow.
Helen and Steve occasionally share photographs of the family together on their social media pages, and it's incredibly heartwarming to see that, despite incredibly busy lives, they still get a lot of quality time together.
Steve Backshall shared his difficulties being a slightly older parent
On becoming a father for the first time at the age of 45, Steve Backshall shared that he believes things "would have been easier if [he] had started this a whole lot earlier".
In an interview with The Times in July of this year, he explained: "I think about it every single morning when I wake up early with a small child sleeping on my face and try to make it downstairs to make a coffee, and my knees creak, and my ankles ache, and I feel 100 years of age."
At the same time, he believes that there are some benefits to being a slightly older parent. "On the flip side, I didn't have the knowledge then, or the life experiences, to pass on to my kids in the way I can now," Steve shared. "I wasn't financially secure either, whereas I am packing all my work into tight periods of time so I can spend the summer with my kids."
Work-life balance
Opening up to The Netmums Podcast, Steve explained that he gets emotional when thinking about spending time away from his children. "I want to well up and cry," he said, adding: "They really hate us going away and when we come back, the explosion of emotion you get from them is ... I mean it makes me feel sick.'
When the family are home together, the doting father-of-three ensures they enjoy quality time away from screens. Discussing his daily routine, Steve told The Guardian their day starts with story time at around 5.30 am, followed by homemade banana pancakes. "The kids’ capacity to consume pancakes, commensurate with their bodyweight, blows my mind. They will eat half an elephant’s worth of pancakes, while I have a very strong coffee," he joked.
They then either go to the local rugby club where Steve volunteers as a kids' coach, or they'll take a big canoe along the Thames. "My wife, Helen, and I are quite militant about TV. Screentime is something we don’t do unless we absolutely have to. When we get home, we’ll play board games or do other creative projects, – mega drawings on rolls of wallpaper – or we’ll conjure up our own games. We’ve been playing lots of blind man assault courses recently," he said.
Bathtime, stories and the Welsh national anthem are the traditional activities to wind down before bed, with lights out around 7 pm.