Unfortunately, skyscrapers, traffic lights and monotonously uniformed trees aligned by the sides of pavements are becoming the daily landscape for a majority of the  Western population. However, for 50 years, David Attenborough has been opening our eyes to the beauty that our planet has to offer.

Attenborough’s documentaries aim to draw our attention away from the asphalt and place us back within our wider, often forgotten, context: the visceral beauty of Planet Earth’s natural world. Over five decades, his impressive documentaries have covered every aspect of the wildlife and environment on our planet.

His new seven-part series for BBC One, ‘Frozen Planet’, focuses on the virginal, pure and mysterious lands of the Arctic and Antarctic. Throughout the series, but more specifically in the last episode, ‘On Thin Ice’, the series adopts an environmentalist angle tackling the repercussions of global warming on the Pole’s population and environment.

‘Frozen Planet’ is more than just a nature documentary; it is another gem within David Attenborough’s classic BBC documentary canon.
Over the years Attenborough has succeeded to glamorise the nature documentary genre and impose his style as a reference point for the industry. What primarily defines his documentaries is the narration. Despite an impressive career as a broadcaster and naturalist, Attenborough has this genius ability to come across as approachable. His reassuring fatherly voice transmits information in an easy-to-digest manner and punctuates his programmes with a hint of humour, making scientific and biologic facts accessible to a broader audience. Numerous scientists all over the world are warning against global warming, displaying striking percentages, nightmare scenarios and complex and accusatory terminologies. Conversely, Frozen Planet uses a more subtle strategy. Through breath-taking cinematic footage we are becoming witness to the exquisiteness and frailty of our planet. ‘Frozen Planet’ is a powerful experience of the world ‘out there’, the world we might never have access to.

Attenborough has succeeded once again to uphold the traditional BBC values of informing, entertaining and educating its public.
I can only urge you to watch ‘Frozen Planet’, which in the vein of all other BBC David Attenborough documentaries, will challenge and shape your views on our planet.

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