Michael Palin reveals where he told David Attenborough to find ‘snails the size of steaks’

His adventures have taken him from the depths of the Sahara to the heights of the Himalayas. Travelling the world, he has produced dozens of documentaries and seen far-flung corners of the globe that exist solely in most people’s imaginations.

Along the way, Michael Palin has seen all manner of weird and wonderful creatures including one to shock even the most experienced globetrotter.

The Monty Python star said on his journeys through Nigeria that he encountered snails “as big as steaks”.

So much so, he had to tell one of his fellow globetrotting friends: naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.

“I couldn’t believe it, they were the size of steaks,” he says, adding: “I mentioned this to David Attenborough, who I see every now and then.

“He said, ‘The snails are huge in Nigeria’ and I said ‘Yes they are’. He asked me what they tasted like, and they don’t really taste of anything. So there was the odd exotic thing like that to enjoy.”

His new three-part documentary sees Palin embark on a 1,300-mile journey across Nigeria, known as The Giant of Africa, with estimates that within 50 years it will be the third most populated country in the world after India and China.

“I’m interested in countries that have great potential but for some reason and in some particular ways, don’t seem to be fulfilling it at the moment,” he explains.

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“That happens in lots of countries including our own, but it’s of particular interest when you’re a traveller and you’re curious, and it gives a documentary an edge instead of looking around and just saying that everything is absolutely fine”.

He was also “interested in finding out what is really going on beneath the surface” and dives straight in during the first episode, where viewers will get to see him visit Makoko, often characterised as the biggest slum in Africa, as well as the coastal town of Badagry, which was once a slave port.

He also gets a glimpse at Lagos’ bustling nightlife, and meets Yeni Kuti, the daughter of late musician Fela Kuti – who is regarded as the father of Afrobeat.

Another escapade in Nigeria involved nearly losing one of the vans they were travelling in.

“Most of the infrastructure in the country wasn’t working terribly well, be it the electricity or the roads, and nobody seemed to do a great deal about it. They rely on huge trucks to transport most things and they often get stuck,” he says.

“We actually lost one of our vans at one point, because it got stuck and we didn’t really have proper towing equipment.

“We tried our best, and the local villagers heard about the film crew getting stuck, so lots of them helped push us out of the puddles to great cheers, but the vehicle never really recovered.”

The series follows the 2022 series Michael Palin: Into Iraq and the Bafta-nominated Michael Palin In North Korea.

The trip is a particularly poignant one for Palin, as it follows the death of his wife of 57 years, Helen Gibbins, last year.

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Palin met Helen on holiday in Southwold, Suffolk, and later fictionalised the encounter in a 1987 BBC drama titled East of Ipswich.

Speaking of his late wife, he said: “I was actually very glad to go in the end because since Helen died my life is very, very different.”

He added that he had to “keep on working”, and that “Helen would want me to do that.”

The actor said another reason for his trip was to “test” himself physically, explaining he wanted to “see if I could still do this at 80 years old – and I found that I could.”

His time in Nigeria wasn’t without setbacks, however – “Most of the infrastructure in the country wasn’t working terribly well. We actually lost one of our vans at one point, because it got stuck and we didn’t really have proper towing equipment.”

Michael Palin in Nigeria begins on April 16 at 9 pm on Channel 5.