Meet the real ARCTIC MONKEYS

...plus perishing penguins and playful polar cubs. Eleven years after the first Frozen Planet, Attenborough is back with stunning film of Earth’s most inhospitable habitats

Polar bear cubs playfully slide across the ice. A magnificent Siberian tiger struts through the snow with impossible lightness of foot in search of prey. Killer whales move in deadly formation to claim the prize of a lone seal. High in the Japanese Alps, a macaque (right) relaxes in natural thermal baths. An iceberg the height of the Empire State Building tumbles into the sea.

These are just a few of the incredible, jaw-dropping moments that will astonish viewers as Sir David Attenborough (right, inset) presents a stunning new series revealing the frozen wastes that – for now – occupy vast swathes of the planet.

These are places that are forbiddingly hostile not only for human existence but also for all but the hardiest members of the animal kingdom, which are now uncovered by the intrepid camera crews of the BBC’s matchless Natural History Unit.

The new show comes 11 years after the first Frozen Planet, but while the original series was confined to the Arctic and Antarctic, the fresh remit has been widened to include all the frozen parts of the Earth. That extends farther than you might think.

There’s the so-called ‘Third Pole’ – the Himalaya mountain range stretching 1,500 miles through the heart of Asia, while in Africa the cold peak of Mount Kenya is right on the equator. Home to an incredible 750 billion trees, the Great Boreal Forest spans the far reaches of Canada, Russia and Scandinavia and is frozen for six months of every year.

These are unforgettable landscapes, yet it’s the lives of the creatures within them that make this six-part series such essential viewing. Witness the way emperor penguins huddle together in a ring of warmth to help their chicks survive in temperatures as low as minus 100C as 100mph winds blow.

See grizzly bears hunting for food where they can – largely at the expense of hapless musk ox calves, only one in ten of whom survive their first year. While the furry, grumpy-looking Pallas’s cat all too often ends up cheekily outwitted by the voles and rodents it would like for supper.

But this is also a cautionary tale, as Sir David warns us that the ice is melting faster than ever, putting the future of many species in doubt – making this fascinating world more precious than ever.