Joanna Lumley (pictured) pursues a life-long dream to track down the elusive and beautiful Northern Lights in this amazing journey in Norway's far north. Yet with no guarantees that this incredible natural phenomena will appear, it's in the balance as to whether her journey will be in vain or if she will finally fulfil her lifetime ambition and see the Northern Lights herself.
Lumley grew up in tropical Malaysia and, as a little girl, had never seen snow or felt cold. Inspired by the fairy tales and picture books of the North, full of trolls and snow queens, she always longed to make this journey. So compelling was the lure of the North that, aged seven, at a fancy dress party in Kuala Lumpur for the Queen's Coronation in 1953, she insisted on going as a Norwegian girl.
Now at last realising her childhood dream, she travels North across the Arctic Circle, up through Norway and finally to Svalbard, the most northerly permanently inhabited place on Earth, where she has to cope with temperatures approaching -30°C.
Lumley's journey takes her from train to boat, husky-sled and snowmobile as she is pulled ever northwards by what she calls "the strongest point of the compass". As the anticipation mounts, so does Lumley's trepidation that her Arctic journey will be in vain and she won't get to see the Northern Lights.
She explores the romantic fjords of Lofoten. Learning to ride a snowmobile, Lumley speeds across endless expanses of Lapland tundra with a Sami herdsman in search of his reindeer. On nearing the Arctic Ocean, she rests for the night in a hotel made entirely of ice. The fascinating people she meets on her journey north remind Lumley of the reverence in which the mysterious and beautiful Northern Lights are held.
As she seeks this personal holy grail, Lumley responds with humour and deep emotion to one of the world's most magnificent and extreme environments.
Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights was an amazing programme.
It gripped me from start to finish - the light show was amwesome and what beautiful music to accompany it. Joanna was the perfect person to present this. Her commentary was great.
November 28th - 1:52pmJLI said...
really well made documentary. beautiful film recorded showing almost everything beautifully and truethfully.
November 27th - 3:27amDave said...
Hoax? No, they've just used cameras on tripods with big lenses and quite long exposures for the Sky shots. Makes it look a lot brighter than it is but it's the only way to show the N. Lights on TV. Human eyes are far superior to any camera and TV for seeing the bright and dark bits at the same time - and at the long exposure settings needed, close ups of Joanna might be blurry.
For Joanna's close up shots, they've used separate cameras or have adjusted the same cameras and filmed her a bit later, with their own lighting to show her face. Lighting her up at the same time would have ruined the effect!
The only fakery would be having to record Joanna's face-to-camera bits separately from the Lights themselves (but probably the same night).
November 23rd - 1:11pmDavid said...
Of course it was a hoax.We see Joanna's adoring face with no lights in sight.We then see someone in the distance dressed in Joanna's clothes facing the lights but not moving at all, or turning to face the camera.The middle class BBC takes us all for fools.
November 1st - 4:23pmNY said...
JL
I just found out what it is: the piano music is Notturno (Nocturne) by Grieg, Opus 54 No. 4.
September 30th - 8:35pmJ L said...
I'm trying to find out the name of the piano music that played, please help!
September 23rd - 11:40amKerridwen Niner said...
This was a moving programme and not the sort of thing in normally watch but i'm so glad i did. Wish i'd kept it now. Can we find it on the net?
September 15th - 9:15pmDeborah Hopwood said...
Amazing! When will it be repeated?
September 11th - 8:45pmLor Harkin said...
the music from the programme is Greig's Peer Gynt Suites. Fabulous!
Please get Norwegian televison to show this lovely programme!
September 8th - 5:22pmjean fisher said...
Great prog. Where can I view the playlist of background music?
September 8th - 2:19pmpeter batten said...
when will it be reshown ot hd
September 7th - 10:03pmRona Macdonald said...
Thank you that was probably the best programme I have every seen, truly awesome!!!
Joanna Lumley you are a wonderful person.
September 7th - 10:00pmKatie said...
I really find it hard to believe that it wasnt a hoax when she seen the lights! how can the sky be light as day but when it shows to her standing, it was pitch black and she couldnt be seen. There was no glow or reflection in the snow either and the positioning of the moon and the shadow of her body and her face was wrong.
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