When the BBC asked me to go to Antarctica to film emperor penguins for Dynasties: Emperor it was a childhood dream come true. After discussing it with my wife Becky we agreed that, although it would mean being away for nearly an entire year without coming home, I should do it. But then Becky, my wife, became pregnant and it seemed like the worst idea in the world.
”My Penguin Year recounts Lindsays adventure to the end of the Earth, filming the most resilient creatures in nature, while coping with being over 15,000km away from family and home – something that almost proved too much. Out of that experience Lindsay has written an unprecedented portrait of Antarctica's most extraordinary residents, the emperor penguins. They march up to 100 miles over solid ice to reach their breeding grounds. They choose to breed in the depths of the worst winter on the planet; and in an unusual role reversal, the males incubate the eggs, fasting for over 100 days to ensure they introduce their chicks safely into their new frozen world. And they are uniquely vulnerable to the unprecedented melting of the polar ice cap. Join McCrae as he relives the preparation and the months he was away and paints a portrait of this deeply moving tale of human endeavour in the harshest environment on the planet that formed the programme and led to his BAFTA win.”
