A three-part series telling the history of Arctic exploration.

In September 1909, Robert Peary announced to the world that he had reached the North Pole. Instead of fame and fortune, he became embroiled in a vicious quarrel with his former friend, Dr Frederick Cook, who claimed that he had beaten him to it. So who was the first man to stand at the Pole?
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Icemen 9.30pm BBC2
Captain Scott's race for the South Pole is part of our history, but who was first to the North Pole? The first in this three-part series tells the story of one man's obsessive quest to get there first.
Robert Peary, a US Navy lieutenant, spent 12 years in the Arctic and lost eight of his toes before he finally made it. But on his return in 1909, he discovered his former fellow-traveller, Dr Frederick Cook, had claimed to have reached the Pole six months earlier. The bitter controversy captured the headlines and rages through this programme with adherents and descendants of both men having their say.
It's a great story, full of doubts and scandals, illustrated with marvellous footage of the Arctic, both contemporary and archive.