Santiago Cabrera narrates this 2015 BBC Natural History Unit series that crosses Patagonia’s 4,000-kilometre spine in three hour-long films. Cameras track pumas through the monkey puzzle forests of the Andes, follow gauchos taming wild horses on the steppe and film orcas snatching seal pups along the coast. Thermal imagery exposes maras and penguins battling the desert wind that scours the eastern flank of the range, while condors ride the same updrafts between glacial peaks.
The final episode reaches Cape Horn where rockhopper penguins lay eggs among shipwrecked trawlers and elephant seals brawl on northern beaches. A composite shot of the 2015 Calbuco eruption, spliced with lightning from the 2011 Puyehue-Cordón Caulle ash cloud, later drew internal protests at the BBC over faked spectacle.
Produced by James Honeyborne and scored by Will Slater, the trilogy aired on BBC Two between 25 September and 9 October 2015. British reviewers praised the footage as “beautiful and moving and also sad”, a verdict that fits a land still being reshaped by ice and human ambition.
Production Details
BBC Two / 1 Season / 3 Episodes / 2015
Music: Will Slater
Main Cast
Santiago Cabrera as Self - Narrator (voice)
