David Attenborough
David Attenborough has defended the inclusion of archive footage in his hit TV wildlife documentary Frozen Planet.
Outraged viewers complained after learning select scenes from the Arctic and Antarctic nature program were not actually filmed in the wild but instead staged in a zoo.
However, the renowned presenter, who narrated Frozen Planet, is adamant the clips were used to enhance the series and not to mislead audiences.
He tells U.K. TV show This Morning, "The question is, during the middle of this scene when you are trying to paint what it is like in the middle of winter at the pole, to say, 'Oh, by the way, this was filmed in a zoo.'
"It ruins the atmosphere, and destroys the pleasure of the viewers and destroys the atmosphere you are trying to create.
"It's not a falsehood and we don't keep it secret either. But to say actually in the middle of that sequence, I mean how far do you take this?
"Do you say this is a penguin, but actually it was a different penguin colony than this one and this one is a different one? Come on, we were making movies."
Frozen Planet attracted millions of viewers when it aired in the U.K. earlier this year (11) and is set to be broadcast to more than 30 other countries.
Alec Baldwin signed up to replace Attenborough as the narrator in the U.S. version of the show.
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