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A Voyage to Antarctica Podcast
UKAHT’s acclaimed podcast A Voyage to Antarctica has returned!
With this season’s guests including Lorraine Kelly, Robert Macfarlane, Ann Bancroft and Cormac Cullinan, host Alok Jha will unearth Antarctica’s hidden treasures; hear epic stories of survival and adventure; and explore the amazing scientific discoveries being made across this continent of ice.
The series was made possible with support from HX Expeditions.
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Listen to the first episode here:
Want more? Catch up on previous episodes on your favourite platform or below. Transcripts are provided for each episode.
Season 6
We’re thrilled to announce the return of A Voyage to Antarctica for its sixth season. Kicking things off, Alok Jha sits down with beloved television presenter Lorraine Kelly to…
Alok Jha talks to pioneering explorer Ann Bancroft: a true polar legend and the first woman to have skied to both North and South poles. Ann joined the 1986 Steger…
What if Antarctica had rights and its own voice at the international table? Alok explores that question with 2025 Shackleton Medal-winner Cormac Cullinan, an environmental lawyer, author, and advocate for…
Alok Jha talks to Robert Macfarlane about the history of Western exploration, the origin of the archetypal heroic-age explorer, and Antarctica’s place as the last great wilderness on Earth. …
Alok Jha talks to meteorite-hunter Katherine Joy to discover why the icy continent is one of the best places on Earth to find them. Professor Katherine Joy is a…
Alok talks to Zaria Forman, an artist who captures the beauty and fragility of Antarctica’s frozen landscapes in breathtaking pastel drawings. Zaria travels to remote regions of the world to…
Season 5
In an explosive start to Season 5, Alok Jha talks to world-renowned volcanologist and filmmaker Clive Oppenheimer. More people have been to space than have set eyes on the depths…
Alok Jha talks to Leilani Raashida Henry about her father: the pioneering Antarctic explorer and civil rights leader, George Washington Gibbs Jr. Born in Florida during the Jim Crow segregation era,…
Dr Leigh Hickmott, research scientist, zoologist and wildlife presenter, takes Alok Jha up close and personal with Antarctica’s most fearsome resident – the killer whale, which Leigh calls ‘the apex…
With Antarctica sea ice levels reaching record lows over the last four consecutive years, Alok Jha talks to leading glaciologist Professor Martin Siegert about his work: the study of ice…
The winter before Scott’s ill-fated attempt on the South Pole, his youngest team member, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, set off in the middle of the Antarctic polar night with Henry Bowers and…
In our final episode of the season, Alok Jha takes a trip across the universe with astronaut Dr Meganne Christian to explore the numerous connections between Antarctica and space travel.…
Season 4
In the final episode of the series, Alok Jha revisits one of Antarctica’s most enduring tales of exploration with author and journalist Katherine MacInnes. Her book, Snow Widows, tells the story of…
In episode five, Alok Jha talks to NASA astrobotanist Jess Bunchek about growing vegetables in Antarctica – and outer space. Subscribe to the podcast to hear new episodes first: Acast | Apple | Spotify
In episode four, Alok Jha talks to Dr Peter Fretwell, award-winning cartographer and leading scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, about Antarctica’s most iconic residents – Emperor penguins – and…
In episode three, Alok Jha chats to journalist and author Julian Sancton about the harrowing and epic survival story of The Belgica, an early polar expedition gone terribly wrong with…
We think of Antarctica as icy and inhospitable to everything but the hardiest forms of life. But it hasn’t always been that way. Many millions of years ago Antarctica was…
Alok Jha talks to Guinness World Record-breaking polar explorer Preet Chandi MBE – known as Polar Preet – about her extraordinary, inspiring and boundary-breaking achievements in Antarctica. Subscribe to…
Season 3
Alok Jha talks to award-winning history broadcaster and best-selling author Dan Snow about being part of the Endurance22 mission and what it was like to witness the extraordinary moment Ernest…
Alok Jha talks to Mya-Rose Craig, aka Birdgirl, the British-Bangladeshi birder, race activist and environmentalist, about travelling to Antarctica and the impact the frozen continent has had on her climate activism. Mya-Rose’s memoir, Birdgirl,…
Alok Jha talks to Marine Biologist Dr Huw Griffiths about the weird and wonderful life that is being discovered underwater in Antarctica; teaching us incredible things about our planet’s deep past, and even…
Alok Jha talks to explorer and UKAHT Head of Operations Sophie Montagne, one of the British Army’s Ice Maiden Expedition, which in 2018, became the first all-female team to cross Antarctica using…
Alok Jha talks to climate scientist Dr Tamsin Edwards about how her pioneering work in modelling the impact of ice sheet and glacier melt on rising sea levels is predicting the future of…
Alok Jha talks to award-winning polar architect Hugh Broughton, to find out what it takes to design buildings where people can live – and even thrive – in the world’s most extreme conditions.…
Alok Jha
Podcast host
“Antarctica has a lot to teach us. I’ve been lucky enough to visit this magnificent continent and for these new podcasts, it’s been fascinating to learn more about its history, climate, ecology, social life, politics and much more from some leading experts. I’m looking forward to listeners joining us on this journey.”
Season 2
Alok Jha talks to legendary explorer Felicity Aston about what endurance means to her. In 2012, Felicity became the first woman to ski solo across the Antarctic landmass, a journey of…
Alok Jha goes to Antarctica and far beyond with space plasma physicist Dr Suzie Imber. Suzie is Associate Professor in Space Physics at the University of Leicester. She’s currently involved…
In part 1 of this special two part episode, Alok Jha talks to polar explorer Dwayne Fields: the first black Briton to walk 400 miles to the magnetic North Pole…
In part 2 of The White Continent? Alok Jha delves further into Antarctica’s colonial history with historian Dr Ben Maddison, to discover some untold stories of the continent. Ben’s book Class and Colonialism…
Alok Jha talks to Dr Kelly Hogan, a Marine Geophysicist at the British Antarctic Survey to find out what studying the remains of ancient ice sheets in Antarctica can tell us…
Alok Jha talks to the award-winning writer Philip Hoare about his life-long love for and obsession with whales and their history in Antarctica. Philip Hoare was born and brought up in…
In the final episode of series 2, Alok Jha talks to Polar Conservationist and explorer Prem Gill to find out what Antarctic seals and Grime music have in common. Prem is…
Season 1
Episode 1 | To The Ice
Sir Ranulph Fiennes
Alok Jha talks to Sir Ranulph Fiennes about the explorers of the past, his experiences of Antarctica and what it actually takes to go there. Sir Ranulph Fiennes is an explorer, author, fundraiser and public speaker. He was described by The Guinness Book of Records as “the world’s greatest living explorer” in 1984, and, since then, he has broken many more world records and led many more expeditions to remote regions. He became, with Charles Burton, the first man ever to have travelled around the Earth’s circumpolar surface. His record-breaking expeditions include travel by riverboat, hovercraft, manhaul sledge, skidoo, Land Rover and ski, and have raised many millions of pounds for charity.
Episode 2 | Clues to the Climate Crisis
Professor Dame Jane Francis
Antarctica is at the front line of the global climate crisis; in this episode Alok Jha talks to Professor Dame Jane Francis about the history of the continent, and the extraordinary climate research happening there. Professor Dame Jane Francis is a geologist by training, and a palaeobotanist at the British Antarctic Survey. Her research interests include ancient climates and fossil plants from the Arctic and Antarctic, which she uses to decipher ancient polar climates. She was awarded the Polar Medal for her contribution to British polar research and was appointed as Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George for services to UK polar science and diplomacy.
Episode 3 | How Penguins Can Predict the Future
Ruth Peacey
Alok Jha talks to conservation filmmaker Ruth Peacey about the history of penguins in the Antarctic, and what studying penguins can tell us about the future of the planet. Ruth Peacey worked with the BBC for over ten years on series including Natural World, Springwatch, Life in the Air and Planet Earth 2. In her spare time, she started documenting the issues surrounding bird persecution in the Mediterranean, which led to a series of projects called ‘Massacre on Migration’. She now specialises in investigating conservation issues all over the world, using videos and social media to shine light on areas of concern. In 2017, Ruth won Birdwatch Magazine’s ‘Conservation Hero’ award for her work.
Episode 4 | No Shops and No Hairdressers
Sara Wheeler and Camilla Nichol
Alok Jha talks to conservation filmmaker Ruth Peacey about the history of penguins in the Antarctic, and what studying penguins can tell us about the future of the planet. Ruth Peacey worked with the BBC for over ten years on series including Natural World, Springwatch, Life in the Air and Planet Earth 2. In her spare time, she started documenting the issues surrounding bird persecution in the Mediterranean, which led to a series of projects called ‘Massacre on Migration’. She now specialises in investigating conservation issues all over the world, using videos and social media to shine light on areas of concern. In 2017, Ruth won Birdwatch Magazine’s ‘Conservation Hero’ award for her work.
Episode 5 | Antarctica In Mind
Peter Liversidge, Lucy Orta and Marc Rees
In this penultimate episode, Alok Jha talks with contemporary artists Peter Liversidge, Lucy Orta and Marc Rees to find out how Antarctica has inspired them in their work, and why the icy continent has been a particularly inspiring place for so many artists, even before the first sighting 200 years ago.
Episode 6 | The Future of Antarctica
Professor Klaus Dodds
In the final episode of the series, Alok Jha talks to Professor Klaus Dodds about Antarctica’s unique geopolitical position, The Antarctic Treaty, Antarctica’s potentially precarious future and what we can all do to protect it. Klaus Dodds is Professor of Geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. His many books and articles have been concerned with the geopolitics and governance of the Polar Regions as well as the cultural politics of ice. These include: The Scramble for the Poles, Ice: Nature and Culture and The Arctic: What Everyone Needs to Know. He has visited Antarctica four times and also travelled extensively in the Arctic.
Interested in collaborating?
We are interested in working with individuals organisations working across arts, culture, heritage, conservation, science, the environment, science and education. If you have a project or an idea that you would like to discuss, please get in touch.
