Alaska: Earth's Frozen Kingdom

Series 1 - Episode 3 Winter

Wed 3 Feb 11am - 12pm Eden

See Repeats

Wed 3 Feb, 6pm - 7pm	Eden
Thu 4 Feb, 12am - 1am	Eden
Thu 4 Feb, 3:50am - 4:40am	Eden

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Review

by David Butcher

I expected this instalment, covering winter, to be the least interesting, but not at all. We get fighting eagles, a lovely little Arctic fox scampering after polar bears, and a flock of sandhill cranes caught in a snowstorm.

The cameras are good at picking up the little details that convey how shatteringly cold it is – the eerie sound a river makes as it freezes solid, for instance.

But sadly, whoever wrote the voiceover doesn’t trust us to get the message that yes, it’s blooming cold, so the narrator keeps reminding us, like a nagging know-all, that, “The big chill is coming,” and, “If you don’t take care of yourself, winter will take care of you,” and so on. No matter, it’s all still mesmerising.

Summary

To survive the bone-chilling cold, deadly blizzards and darkness of the eight months of an Alaskan winter takes courage, cunning and remarkable endurance. This episode tells the stories of how the tough and resourceful animal and human inhabitants of the windswept mountain peaks, icy tundra and snowbound forests face up to the challenges of the season.