Frozen Planet II
A decade on from the original Frozen Planet, this BBC landmark series narrated by David Attenborough explores the Earth’s frozen habitats that cover more than a fifth of its surface.
Filming Arctic Bumblebees
It was the first time anyone had filmed the extraordinary story of bumblebees surviving in the Arctic, emerging from hibernation and busily creating new life during the short Arctic spring. For Sir David Attenborough, the bee was a personal favourite of his. He wrote, ‘The star, for me, was that Lapland Queen. I had never heard of her before. And watching her provide sweet drinks for the kids, I thought quite charming.’
From Queen of the Arctic by Yoland Bosiger for the Frozen Planet II website.
A Chance Scientific Discovery
To capture unique wildlife behavior, we often rely on the help of scientists in the field and filming the Lapland bumblebee was no exception. Our team was joined on location by biologists Pierre Rasmont, Baptiste Martinet, and Kimberly Przybyla from the University of Mons and Richard Gill from Imperial College London.
However, during the filming we get to spend a lot of time observing our subjects and sometimes this leads us witness behavior that is new even to science. On this occasion, I was lucky enough to discover the nest of a Lapland bumblebee queen — something that had never been recorded before. Not only did this allow us to film the behavior of the nesting queen for the first time, but it also led to new insights in bumblebee biology that Martinet and his colleagues published in a scientific paper.
Technical Details
Some of the equipment used:
Red Helium 8K camera
Phantom 4K high-speed camera
Drone
Specialty microscope lenses
Prototype macroscope lens
Motion control system
P+S Technik Skater Dolly
Behind the scenes: biologist Baptiste Martinet and assistant producer Yoland Bosiger on location.
Production Details
Documentary series
6 × 58 minutes, 1.78:1
Produced by BBC Studios
Released on BBC One in 2022
Arctic: Our Frozen Planet is an IMAX and giant screen feature adaptation based on some of the same original stories
Credits
Ep. 5, “Frozen Lands”: Director of Photography for the Lapland bumblebee sequence
Ep. 6, “Our Frozen Planet”: Additional Photography
