Photo: Steve Brown
INTERESTING CHARACTERS: The lives of Svalbard's locals are followed in the new TV series, Ice Town: Life on the Edge.
Kirsty Hanson, executive producer and commissioning editor for BBC Worldwide, in particular for BBC Earth, visited Melrose Arch to give City Buzz the lowdown on their new TV series, Ice Town: Life on the Edge.
The TV show follows the life stories of 10 of the small town’s people – the people who endeavour to live in the northern most town in the world which features sub-zero temperatures and where polar bear attacks are a scary reality.
This kind of environment definitely posed some interesting challenges for the TV crew, who was not accustomed to their new surroundings.
HARD WORKER: Mary-Ann is the owner of Svalbard’s local bed and breakfast.
“I just went to visit, but I think it was really challenging [for the crew] because at that time it was polar night where they had 24 hours of dark which is followed by 24 hours of light, in sub-zero temperatures,” Hanson explained.
“At one point one of the directors pulled down his balaclava and snapped his beard – which was frozen – right off. The logistics of filming were quite difficult, but the place was quite amazing and awe-inspiring, and like nothing we’d ever seen before.”
ICE TOWN PHILOSOPHER: Wiggo is Svalbard’s local taxi driver and town philosopher.
Despite having to call on emergency services when a bear visited the town, it is not all scary and actually seems to be very attractive.
“At any given time there are more than 46 nationalities there. It’s one of those places that sucks you in.”
So who exactly are the people that were filmed for the series, you ask?
“We’ve got some amazing characters. Mary Anne runs the bed and breakfast, wears a full polar bear skin coat and works 100 hours a week, at her age of 70-something. We also have Wiggo, who is the taxi driver and town philosopher,” she said.
Photo: Hello Halo NATIVE LAND: The Svalbard landscape offers many interesting sights for tourists.
Other interesting characters include two chefs, a priest, a journalist and a couple who feel that the small town of 20 houses and four shops is too big, and would therefore like to go completely off the grid and live among the wildlife.
Live vicariously through the lives of Svalbard residents by watching Ice Town: Life on the Edge which aired first on 28 August.
