Frozen Planet

Attenborough at the ends of the Earth

Frozen Planet is narrated by Sir David Attenborough, who himself travelled to both polar regions in the making of the series. Sir David first visited Antarctica 17 years ago, but this was his first time ever to visit the geographical North Pole. To get there, meant flying in to a Russian ice camp on the frozen Arctic ocean, where he could (after several days of bad weather) finally reach the pole itself by helicopter.

He also returned to Scott's hut, a place he first visited several years ago, but still touches him today. This is the place where Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his men began their fateful journey to reach the geographical South Pole. "I remember very vividly indeed the first time I entered this extraordinary building…it was not like any other place - because it isn't like any other place on earth. If ever there was a place that held the personality of the people that had lived in it, a century ago, this surely must be it".

Sir David authors On Thin Ice, the seventh film of the series, which explores the effects of climate change on the polar regions and the lengths that scientists are going to, to understand it. Some regions, like the Antarctic Peninsula, have warmed significantly in the years since Sir David first visited them. He explores what this means, not just for the animals and people of the polar regions, but for the whole planet.