Thirteen/WNET's NATURE and Granada Wild Return to the Rainforest for More Spider-Hunting Adventures Following Success of Deep Jungle on PBS.

NEW YORK -- Spurred by the popularity of spider enthusiast Martin Nicholas in last spring's acclaimed PBS NATURE miniseries, Deep Jungle, Thirteen/WNET New York and U.K.-based Granada Wild will bring Nicholas back for a NATURE spin off episode next winter. Titled True Adventures of the Ultimate Spider-Hunter, the hour-long show is slated for Sunday, February 12, 2006 in the Emmy and Peabody-winning series' regular 8 p.m. (ET) time slot on PBS.

The film will follow Nicholas and his trademark "spidercam" as he pursues (crawling into foreboding places with light on helmet) a variety of dangerous and exotic arachnids -- including the so-called goliath bird-eater -- in the rainforests of French Guyana and Mexico, and the Arizona desert.

In Deep Jungle, Nicholas led a film crew into the dark recesses of a Peruvian jungle where he sought, and found, the legendary "chicken-eating spider" -- a previously uncatalogued type of tarantula more than 10 inches in diameter. The goliath bird-eater, also a tarantula, is said to be even bigger.

"Martin combines his deep expertise with an entertaining quirkiness and fearless spirit of adventure, to which viewers and critics react very positively," says Fred Kaufman, executive producer of NATURE. "We realized after the miniseries that we could harness his knowledge and enthusiasm to uncover a great deal more about the world of spiders."

Critics responded warmly to Martin and other researchers seen in Deep Jungle. The Washington Post called Martin "charming" and his exploits "educational and highly entertaining." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution observed that, "The joy these scientists take in their work is infectious."

As a prologue to Martin's new adventures, the film will open with a meeting between him and Stan Lee, creator of the enduringly popular "Spider-Man" comic book and film character. "Conferring the amazing qualities of spiders upon a human being was an act of imaginative genius," says Martin. "I wish I had thought of it first."

Although technically an amateur scientist, Martin is widely acknowledged as an authority on spiders, especially tarantulas, having conducted independent research and participated in joint research projects on five continents. He has been a research associate and jungle guide for the British Museum of Natural History in London, and served numerous other institutions as consultant, lecturer or guest speaker.

In addition to Peru, where his startling discovery is seen in Deep Jungle, Martin's avocation has taken him to Belize, Borneo, Indonesia, Malaysia, North Africa, Turkey, the Windward Islands and Vietnam.

A member of The British Tarantula Society and The Theraphosid Research Group, Nicholas has written and co-authored numerous papers published in the journals of both organizations. In addition, he has lectured on invertebrate ethology at the University of Kingston, Surrey, and appeared as guest speaker on that subject at The American School in Surrey.

True Adventures of the Ultimate Spider-Hunter is a co-production of Granada Wild and Thirteen/WNET New York. Producer: Rupert Barrington.

NATURE, which begins its 24th season this fall, is produced by Thirteen/WNET New York for PBS. Fred Kaufman is executive producer; William Grant is executive-in-charge.

The series has won more than 300 honors from the television industry, parent groups, the international wildlife film community, and environmental organizations, including many Emmys, the George Foster Peabody Award and the first award given to a television program by the Sierra Club.

Major corporate support for NATURE is provided by Canon U.S.A., Inc., and Ford. Additional support is provided by the nation's public television stations.

The series is closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and distributed with Descriptive Video Service (DVS) for the sight-impaired. For more information, visit www.thirteen.org or www.pbs.org. This Web companion to the weekly series contains in-depth information and colorful graphics for each program.

Thirteen/WNET New York is one of the key program providers for public television, bringing such acclaimed series as NATURE, Great Performances, American Masters, Charlie Rose, Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, Wide Angle, Stage on Screen, Secrets of the Dead, and Cyberchase -- as well as the work of Bill Moyers -- to audiences nationwide. As the flagship public broadcaster in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut metro area, Thirteen reaches millions of viewers each week, airing the best of American public television along with its own local productions such as The Ethnic Heritage Specials, the Thirteen Walking Tours, New York Voices, and Reel New York. With educational and community outreach projects that extend the impact of its television productions, Thirteen takes television "out of the box." And as broadcast and digital media converge, Thirteen is blazing trails in the creation of Web sites, enhanced television, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, educational software, and other cutting-edge media products. More information about Thirteen can be found at: www.thirteen.org.