Film team trapped at Pole

Press, 15 January 1988, Page 15

Film team trapped at Pole

Television New Zealand’s “Fast Forward” team have completed filming aspects of the New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme for a new series due to go on air in May. Peter Llewellyn, the re-porter-director for “Fast Forward,” and Janet Bertaud, the programme’s researcher, were unexpectedly caught out by bad weather, in the TransAntarctic mountains during their visit. The helicopter in which they were flying had landed at a remote site in the mountains to meet a field party when low cloud grounded the aircraft until the following day. Paul Donovan, a cameraman with TVNZ’s Natural History Unit in Dunedin, lan Masterton, a sound recordist, and Lynn Bowering, an instructor at the Antarctic Survival School, were also on the flight.

The five New Zealanders and American flight crew of three had to break open survival bags, which provided them with tents and food for the overnight stay. During their stay in Antarctica the “Fast Forward” team filmed various scientific events. They spent most of their time looking at studies on Adelie „ penguins. These studies included aerial surveys from a R.N.Z.A.F. Hercules aircraft and radio tracking of penguins at sea.

Another interesting project the team looked at was the study of the secretion of a hormone called melatonin in Weddell seals, being made by scientists from Lincoln College. Melatonin, which is triggered by darkness from the pineal gland, is responsible for biological clocks in animals. Melatonin secretion in Weddell seals is particularly interesting because scientists wish to understand how the lack of darkness during the Antarctic summer affects production of the hormone.

A greater understanding of melatonin could result in the manufacture of a pill which would help alleviate jet lag in humans. It also may also help in preventing cot deaths by regulating the metabolism of babies.

Successful series

London Weekend Television is trumpeting the success of its six-part drama series starring Nigel Havers, “The Charmer.”

Apart from selling the programme to Television New Zealand, L.W.T. has sold it in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Singapore and Zimbabwe, and recently finalised a sale to a Boston television channel. The series about a murdering womaniser also starred Bernard Hepton, Rosemary Leach and Fiona Fullerton. The series screened in Britain late last year, up against the expensive 8.8. C. series “Fortunes of War,” on a Sunday evening. —Tony Verdon