The Big Ice

Though it plays hell with cameras, Antarctica has long fascinated filmmakers. This hour-long National Film Unit documentary was assembled from a five-part TV series of the same name. It looks at scientific research, early explorers, and Antarctica's affect on global climate. Made almost four decades ago, the programme warns of a possible "new and potentially dangerous warming period", and describes the greenhouse effect as a "controversial scientific theory". The large cast includes penguins, a seal birth (clip two) and a heavyweight team of Kiwi scientists.

For millions of years this desert of ice, as if storing from a drought, has been accumulating most of the earth's fresh water.

– Narrator Clive Revill

Key Cast & Crew

Ann Horton

Co-Director, Writer

Clive Revill

Narrator

Tom Williamson

Co-Director, Writer, Producer

Bayly Watson

Cinematographer

Thomas Horton

Writer

Lynton Diggle

Director - Antarctic Unit