Another sweeping special when 'Planet' freezes over

0 Comments | USA TODAY, April, 2008 | by Gary Levin

The makers of Planet Earth are diving into their next expedition: the icy reaches of the North and South poles.

BBC's Natural History Unit has begun filming Frozen Planet, a sequel of sorts to last year's 11-episode hit Earth, exploring the wildlife and extremely sparse human populations of Antarctica and the Arctic Circle. The eight-hour project will take more than two years to complete and is estimated to cost more than $16 million.

But don't set your DVRs: It will arrive on the U.K.'s BBC in fall 2011 and won't surface on the Discovery Channel until spring 2012.

In working on Earth, says series producer Vanessa Berlowitz, it became clear this type of habitat bore closer scrutiny. "Normal wildlife film crews struggled to follow them because it's...