Martin Clunes was nearly shark bait while filming a new documentary show.
Doc Martin star Martin Clunes had a near-death experience filming a new documentary
The ‘Doc Martin’ actor - who has narrated a number of ITV documentaries, the first being ‘Islands of Britain’ back in 2009 – was working on a new docuseries ‘Islands of the Pacific’ in Rangiroa, the largest atoll in French Polynesia and the second largest worldwide, when the near-death experience took place.
According to the Daily Mirror newspaper, Martin - who was hoping to battle his fear of sharks - says on his upcoming show: “I’m not comfortable swimming with sharks, but I’ll do it.
“It is great to see their faces and get over the demonisation of naughty sharks. They didn’t bite me which is a huge bonus.
“As always with these things, I assume invincibility because there’s a person there with you doing the same thing. It was lovely. There was lots of fish to see, and really clear water.
“But after 10 minutes of swimming with the sharks, the guide advised me it was time to get out of the water with absolute calm. There were bigger sharks coming and there was sort of aggressive behaviour. I was happy to take the guide’s advice.”
Blacktip sharks are known to grow up to five feet long and can accidently bite humans who have swum up in their feeding zone.
Martin's guide Viana told him: “It’s not good to stay in there when they are chasing the fish. Because you never know what they’re thinking.
“If you want to try you can go first but I will wait here.”
Martin revealed he was inspired to film a documentary in the Pacific after his father had given him a book to read when he was a child, which depicted the Kon-Tiki tour across the Ocean.
He said: “Having done documentaries about the Islands of Britain, Australia and America we were looking for another group of islands to explore, and the Pacific is such an immense space.”
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