Frozen Planet

1st December 2011

Grim up North (& South)

Was it as arresting as the previous five episodes? Did it make you hide behind the sofa? Did it leave you shaken and stirred? Of course it did not. Did it shape up? Oh yes. This programme was the perfect compliment to the last five episodes of eye-watering beauty and drama. An endless orgy of savagery eventually dulls the armchair libido, perspective is required, we got it. In spades. Next week's is even more important, but this was magnificently put together and with Sir David seemingly even more engaged than normal (if that is possible).

It does not require the normal litany and as I adjusted my sitting position to a more cerebral pose, I realised how vital this sort of expose is. But enough of pious vignettes, try this: next time you pick up half a dozen free range from Morrison's, think of that crinkled fellow on his precarious rocky ledge, lowered by a half inch of twine. Sensibly this whole terrifying egg quest was given a good chunk of edit as it immediately showed the hardships these teak-tough polar dwellers endure. Five men, one rope, a dizzying rock-face and for what - 50 eggs - these had the colour of Faberge ones and were seemingly as valuable. Not since Cool Hand Luke have I seen such a fuss over something seemingly so paltry (should that be poultry). Guillemot eggs may hit the mark in itinerant gastronomic one upmanship terms but this was a brutal quest for such pickings.I particularly enjoyed the BBQ and get together on the distant shoreline to crack a few yolks.

This show was never going to happen without huskies and that late, backlit sequence as the sleds powered off was superb, made more so by the knowledge that these very backlit rays were the last for many months. At the risk of sounding controversial I know these modern day explorers and adventurers (titles attained without qualifications by the way) are all great but as ever I could do without the posturing from these bearded pretty boys. Yes they are strong and fit but on the 100th anniversary of Scott and the very week the great Frank Wild's remains are buried next to the 'Boss' Shackleton's in South Georgia, I felt the brandishing of the radio and the Danish gossip catch-up was verging on polar blasphemy. Kevlar, Gore-tex, GPS, goose-down, radios, hand warmers and polycarbonate sledges are scant substitutes for reindeer skin sleeping bags and Hessian shirts in the toughness stakes. Great filming and all that but that small chapter irked me. Perhaps it was meant to, although I would not have minded their tent with a view of those Northern Lights.

You could detect more than a squeak of balefulness when the great one discussed the mining potential for Greenland. He knows, as we all do, what this sort of exploitation could do to this environment; its inaccessibility is its saviour; long may that continue.

Cleverly there was then some overhead teasing with the Humpbacks; this was a moment to gorge on. Not only was the camerawork sensational but also the whale itself. This is the daddy of the whales, not as big as a Fin or Blue but the most photogenic and certainly the most box office - they bubble feed, they spy hop and they breach - a pretty good cetaceous C.V.

I know I have alluded to it but I got an email this morning from a client saying she had seen herself for five whole seconds on the quick time Snow Hill sequence with the emperor penguins. This was the very Exodus departure from 2009 and did this ever bring that extended expedition back into focus (click here for a brief picture story) - in 28 years in travel I have never had to tell people 'they will not be seeing what they paid for, we don't know when they will be getting home, and we need to let their next of kin know' - tough gig, tough continent, but no-one complained, they got their reward - polar expeditions on proper grown up ships not gin palaces are not cut and dried, nor should they be.

Paul Goldstein

Then of course those ice caves: drug induced dreams may be the only comparison to this or perhaps a Roger Dean poster (remember them ?). The temperatures, the below ice filming, the biting winds, these are committed, hardy individuals that work in these extreme areas, they don't need fancy, frequently

bogus titles. Anyone with green fingers who takes his craft to the artificial greenhouse of the South Pole gets my and probably Titchmarsh's vote. Is it right that you can fly to the South Pole now? Not for me to say, but the research for this frozen yet fragile planet is vital and the final starscape was a fitting end to the series if you are from the US (don't get me on that again) but for the rest of us there is the climate change last episode to come. You will have to wait two weeks for a review. This week's was more educational than invigorating but just as good all the same.

Paul Goldstein

Frozen Planet Review - Autumn - 4th episode

Frozen Planet Review - Winter - 5th episode

Photography trips with Paul

'Georgia .... on your mind? - Exclusive charter to South Georgia October 2013

Spitsbergen in 3 minutes Version 1

Sptisbergen in 3 minutes version 2

Read the latest blogs from Exodus' Paul Goldstein who led two Spitsbergen charters in summer 2011

Shortlist.com:: Comments on the BBC Wildlife documentary series 'Frozen Planet' and explains you too can visit The Real Frozen Planet (November 2011).