Real men sailed to hell and back in wool coats. No GPS, no rescue, just vibes.
Season 1 • Episode 4
LatestDecember 1916. After the loss of 'Endurance', Shackleton and his 27 men endeavour to cross the frozen Weddell Sea. Land lies 350 miles away, and as they drift helplessly northwards they know that soon the ice will break beneath them.
A four-part drama adaptation about the life of polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. Based on Shackleton’s own journals. In 1914 Ernest Shackleton chooses to lead a team on their famous journey aboard the Endurance. When the ship is trapped and crushed by pack-ice, Shackleton and five of his men embark on a desperate 800-mile journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia.
Acting
David Schofield's quietly desperate Shackleton, crumbling in private
Production
Practical Antarctic conditions, no cozy studio fakery
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Filmed in Greenland standing in for Antarctica because 1983 logistics couldn't handle the real thing. Still brutally cold.
Released the same year as the first successful commercial flight over the North Pole, making Shackleton's primitive struggle feel almost medieval by contrast.
GB
