Explorer plays role in Frozen Planet

An explorer from Winkfield has played a pivotal role in the success of awe-inspiring BBC series Frozen Planet.

Jim McNeill, who has been doing polar region expeditions since the mid-1980s, guided the camera crews to locations where elusive Arctic animals could be filmed.

The Woodside Road resident also trained teams on safety and planned their journeys.

The 50-year-old said: "They asked me initially to find Arctic wolves. I gave them a location and they took me on as a guide and to train some of the teams.

"I did a 10-week filming session with the BBC and anything on Arctic foxes, wolves, lemmings and snowy owls is all mine."

He said on one 'interesting' shoot it took a team 10 days to find wolves, before he led them to a den in a valley where a pack of eight were huddled together.

The polar region expert was involved in filming for Frozen Planet throughout 2008, 2009 and 2010 - for the series filmed over four years.

"I created all the safety plans for various bits I was involved in. Anything in the Arctic, a lot of it was mine - apart from the polar bears," he said.

Episode six of seven called The Last Frontier focusing on what draws humans to the coldest and hostile regions, was aired on Wednesday night.

Away from the hit BBC series, Jim has other programmes soon to be shown on television over the festive period.

They include Great Arctic Row, about a row to the North Magnetic pole and one about predators, where he was interviewed about Eton College pupil Horatio Chapple, who was killed by a polar bear in August.

The father-of-three added: "I did a programme called Last Explorers for the BBC that is out soon. The episode I worked on was about an explorer called Speirs Bruce.

"Speirs was a prolific explorer at the same time as Shackleton and Scott but never recognised. I trained the team and took them to the Antarctic."

As for his own exploring, he is set to do an expedition to the Arctic Pole from February to May - attempting to walk 800 miles to the Northern Pole of Inaccessibility.

The veteran adventurer is planning on doing what fellow explorers call the 'unconquered Everest of the polar regions'.

Jim is also now working with Whitbread Round the World yacht skipper Skip Novak in jointly offering advice to film crews and adventurers.

Visit www.ice-warrior.com for more details.

Pictures courtesy of the BBC.