Episode five, and we were into the polar winter, the harshest environment on earth. More than ever, animals must be mean, fast, or clever. We flipped between the Arctic and Antarctica seamlessly. New-born polar bears suckled in their mother's icy cocoon. There was a marvellous, gruesome kind of Wind-in-the-Willows on Ice, as a weasel harried a vole through frozen tunnels before eating it and using its fur for a duvet.
In the water there were more treats. Sea urchins were trapped by ice like something from a horror film. Weddell seals clucked to each ether. Penguins, ever the series' comedy relief, began flapping themselves back onto land. Given enough footage of penguins launching themselves from the sea, I think most viewers could pass an Antarctic winter without too much trouble.
Tonight's highlight, however, was the thrilling chase, as wolves brought down a bison in a pursuit through a snowbound forest. Even in the heat of the moment, it was clear that this scene, in which a ground camera alternated with a perfectly-positioned aerial shot, was something special. The "how they did it" passage at the end only showed what we knew already - that it was a mixture of great skill, dedication, and a bit of luck - without bringing me any closer to a true understanding. To paraphrase Arthur C Clarke, any sufficiently advanced television is indistinguishable from magic.
The problem with Frozen Planet, from a reviewer's point of view, is how to judge it. In contrast to a couple of other episodes in the series (with a particular nod to the brawling elephant seals), I didn't find tonight's instalment, overall, quite as compelling. Compared to most other things on television, however, Frozen Planet is not so much playing a different game as being run off different, better, more advanced hardware. Brand Attenborough has become a byword for consistent excellence like nothing else I can think of. Even HBO has had its duds. Through Planet Earth, Blue Planet, Nature's Great Events and Life, the men and women behind these documentaries pull rabbits from hats over and over again, in HD and from several different angles. It could make you proud to be British, if you weren't too busy being astonished to live on Earth.
