Timeshift: Of Ice and Men

Original version

BBC Four

BBC 4

Timeshift

Documentaries

Factual

Factual: History

Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history.

Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its narrative-led storytelling offering a richly immersive and varied window onto the past.

BBC Four HD

Robert Gwilym

Michael Poole

Ben Southwell

Robert Murphy

Timeshift: Series 11: Episode 7: Of Ice and Men

Antarctica: Of Ice and Men

Episode 7

Episode 7: Of Ice and Men

Series 11

Of Ice and Men

BBC Four - Timeshift, Series 11, Of Ice and Men

How Antarctica fired the imagination of explorers, scientists, writers and photographers.

Documentary which looks at why the most inhospitable place on the planet has exerted such a powerful hold on the imagination of explorers, scientists, writers and photographers.

Timeshift reveals the history of the frozen continent, finding out why the most inhospitable place on the planet has exerted such a powerful hold on the imagination of explorers, scientists, writers and photographers.

Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest place on the globe. Only a handful of people have experienced its desolate beauty, with the first explorers setting foot here barely a hundred years ago.

From the logbooks of Captain Cook to the diaries of Scott and Shackleton, from the Rime of the Ancient Mariner to HP Lovecraft, it is a film about real and imaginary tales of adventure, romance and tragedy that have played out against a stark white backdrop.

We relive the race to the Pole and the 'Heroic Age' of Antarctic exploration, and find out what it takes to survive the cold and the perils of 'polar madness'. We see how Herbert Ponting's photographs of the Scott expedition helped define our image of the continent and find out why the continent witnessed a remarkable thaw in Russian and American relations at the height of the Cold War. 

We also look at the intriguing story of who actually owns Antarctica and how science is helping us reimagine a frozen wasteland as something far more precious.

Interviewees include Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Francis Spufford, Huw Lewis-Jones, Sara Wheeler, Henry Worsley, Prof David Walton and Martin Hartley.

Timeshift: Series 11

Knowledge, arts, music and culture from the UK and the world.

BBC Four reflects arts, music and culture with an ambitious range of intellectually and culturally enriching programmes, taking an expert and in-depth approach to its subjects.

Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history

Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its narrative-led storytelling offering a richly immersive and varied window onto the past

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Timeshift

Series 11

Episode 7: Of Ice and Men

Contributors

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Four

About BBC Four