On the trail of his top ten, Nigel meets worshippers and vipers at Penang’s famous Snake Temple and meets a new squeeze, a snappy reticulated python over 4 metres long! In hilltop forests there’s a red-headed krait and the David Bowie spider. He joins fishermen to net some superb sea snakes. But which of Malaysia’s 40 venomous snakes will make the top spot?

Australia’s renowned deadly serpents include the inland taipan, the most toxic serpent in the world, and the enormous king brown, which can deliver more venom in a single bite than any other snake. As Nigel counts down his top ten, he’s helped by Steve Irwin’s son Robert, whose favourite billabong is a prime spot for a snake on Nigel’s list.

Every year over a million people are bitten by snakes, resulting in some 46,000 deaths - Nigel tracks down the ten deadliest. He meets an enormous king cobra and the infamous Russell’s viper, a snake responsible for more deaths than any other. With the help of the Irula, a tribe of snake hunters, he faces off with kraits, vipers and cobras.

Europe is home to some 50 species of snakes; around 19 of them are venomous. Nigel crosses the continent in search of the most dangerous. On the Greek island of Milos there’s an endangered viper that ambushes birds, while in Spain there are Montpellier snakes, asp vipers, colourful lizards and egg-laden toads. Amid ancient Turkish ruins he uncovers a massive Ottoman viper, a snake once used as a weapon of war.