Frozen Planet II

Editorial

The BBC North East & Cumbria region started in 1959 (tbc) as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One North East & Cumbria.

BBC One North East & Cumbria HD

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

How Earth's breathtaking frozen wildernesses are changing before our eyes.

Life in the extreme. In a fragile world of beauty and hostility, nature finds a way to survive and thrive. Sir David Attenborough explores a planet on the brink of major change.

Series 1

BBC Two

BBC One Scotland

Scotland

BBC One London

London

BBC One Yorks & Lincs HD

The BBC South region started on 5th January 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South.

BBC One South HD

The BBC East region started on 1st May 1959 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One East.

BBC One East

BBC One Yorkshire HD

BBC One Oxfordshire

The BBC West region started on 1st September 1957 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One West.

BBC One West

BBC One Cambridgeshire

The BBC South West region started on 20th April 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South West.

BBC One South West

Formerly part of a wider BBC One South East region that included London and part of the South region. Separated from BBC One London 2001-09-03 following reorganisation of the South East region.

BBC One South East

BBC One East HD

BBC One Wales

Wales

BBC One Cambridgeshire HD

BBC Northern Ireland region started on 19th April 1955 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One Northern Ireland.

BBC One Northern Ireland

BBC One West Midlands

BBC One North West HD

Formerly part of a wider BBC One South East region. Separated as BBC One London 2001-09-03 following reorganisation of the South East region.

BBC One London HD

Simulcast of BBC One Northern Ireland in high definition. From 24/10/2012

BBC One Northern Ireland HD

BBC One Yorks & Lincs

BBC One region covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

BBC One East Midlands HD

BBC One Channel Islands

BBC One North East & Cumbria

BBC One South

BBC One East Midlands

Simulcast of BBC One Wales in high definition. From 29/01/2013

BBC One Wales HD

BBC One Oxfordshire HD

Simulcast of network BBC One in high definition. From 03/11/2010

BBC One HD

BBC One South West HD

BBC One Yorkshire

BBC One West HD

BBC One North West

Simulcast of BBC One Scotland in high definition. From 14/01/2013

BBC One Scotland HD

BBC One Channel Islands HD

BBC One West Midlands HD

BBC One South East HD

Simulcast of network BBC Two in high definition.

BBC Two HD

BBC Two England

England

Simulcast of BBC Two Northern Ireland in high definition

BBC Two Northern Ireland HD

Simulcast of BBC Two Wales in high definition

BBC Two Wales HD

Until 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales (analogue) was known simply as BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Wales (digital) was BBC 2W. From 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales schedules on both analogue and digital became identical

BBC Two Wales

BBC Two Northern Ireland

David Attenborough

James Reed

Elizabeth White

Mark Brownlow

Frozen Planet II: Series 1: Our Frozen Planet

Our Frozen Planet

BBC One - Frozen Planet II, Series 1, Our Frozen Planet

Our frozen planet is changing. Discover what these changes mean for the world as a whole.

Our frozen planet is changing. We meet the scientists dedicating their lives to understanding what these changes mean for animals, people and the world as a whole.

Our frozen planet is changing. In this final episode, we meet the scientists and people dedicating their lives to understanding what these changes mean, not just for the animals and people who live there, but for the world as a whole.

Our journey begins in the Arctic, where every summer huge quantities of ice calve from the edges of Greenland’s melting glaciers. On top of the ice cap itself, glaciologist Alun Hubbard descends into a moulin to try to understand the mechanisms that are driving this historic loss of ice.

Elsewhere in the Arctic, it’s not just land ice that is disappearing. In the Gulf of St Lawrence, Canada, biologists are trying to find out how the loss of sea ice will impact the lives of baby harps. In Arctic Russia, with the loss of summer sea ice, more and more polar bears are arriving on the island of Wrangel. Here, a local ranger and scientists are braving the hungry bears to assess their future survival. 

Loss of sea ice impacts not just wildlife but people too. In the remote community of Qaanaaq, Greenland, local Inuit hunters are finding the ice too dangerous to travel and hunt on, risking their traditional way of life. And these changes happening in the Arctic have the potential to affect people far beyond. On Alaska’s open tundra, bubbling lakes hint at the gases being released from the previously frozen soil, including the potent greenhouse gas methane. 

There is one place where the full scale of a melting Arctic can be best witnessed - from space. Based in the International Space Station, astronaut Jessica Meir looks down at forest fires across Europe and reflects how our changing weather patterns are interconnected.

Rapid ice loss is also happening across the high mountains of the planet’s continents. Glaciologist Hamish Pritchard uses a sophisticated helicopter-strung radar system to try to quantify how much ice is left in the previously uncharted glaciers of the Himalayas. It’s important as, downstream, some 1.2 billion people rely on glacial meltwater as their primary source of fresh water. 

Finally, in Antarctica, we meet Bill Fraser, who has dedicated 45 years of his life to studying the Adelie penguin. Over this period, he has witnessed changes in weather conditions and the extinction of entire colonies. These ‘canaries in the coal mine’ are a sign that all is not well, even in the remotest place on earth. And changes here have the potential to affect all of us, so an international group of scientists is on an urgent mission to assess the stability of a huge body of ice known as the Thwaites ice shelf. If this plug of ice melts and slips into the ocean, it will raise global sea levels, impacting coastal communities across the planet.

The unprecedented changes our scientists are witnessing may be profound, but there is hope that, through a combination of technology and willpower, there is still time to save what remains of our frozen planet.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Frozen Planet II

Series 1

Our Frozen Planet

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC One North East & Cumbria HD

About BBC One