Penguins: Spy in the Huddle product reviews

We received this DVD to review this month. I love documentaries and the BBC produce some of the finest ones. I first heard of the Spy series at work, when the Polar Bear one came out. Everyone was raving about it. I caught a little of it, and I was impressed. Being able to get so close to these animals and essentially live with them is amazing.

For the Penguins Spy series, they visited three different colonies of penguins. I found this good, because often a documentary will focus on the Emperors if we are talking about penguins. However, there are lots of different types of penguins and this documentary celebrates that by showing the rock-hoppers as well as the humbolts.

What I loved about this, was the innovation. The Penguincams were all sophisticated robotic penguins. They all looked like the penguins they were trying to visit. Some could swim, some could walk or lay eggcams as well. I found them fascinating. So did the penguins, who easily welcomed the cameras into their world. The interaction was often very funny.

There are some great stories through the colonies. It was amazing to see how resilient the birds are, through all the trials. There was one very sad moment, that I think they focussed on a bit long. It was maybe only 45 seconds, but it was sad and it made my daughter and I shed a tear or two. Its the way of things in nature, and she is pretty stoic about these things. But for a child who is sensitive, they may not want to watch that piece.

Overall, a great DVD. I have only marked down the extra features because the DVD is very basic. You just get three episodes (the whole series) and a photo gallery. Extra draw of David Tennant's voice, I could listen to him all day long!