Time Shift

Mankind's fascination with the frozen continent of Antarctica, from the early 20th-century race to be the first to reach the South Pole to modern scientific research into the region's geological properties. The programme reveals the story behind the photographs taken by Herbert Ponting on Captain Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated 1912 polar expedition, explores the South Pole's role in famous literature by HP Lovecraft and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and examines the continent's complicated political history. With contributions by Ranulph Fiennes, Sara Wheeler and Francis Spufford.