Children's documentary series following a team of children on an arctic expedition

Serious Arctic follows a team of eight teenage volunteers, four boys and four girls, on a scientific expedition in Arctic Canada.

Their job is to help scientists collect data about global warming and the arctic wildlife. They measured the Grinnell Glacier and helped the endangered polar bear. The Grinnell Glacier had not been measured for 50 years, and more people have walked on the surface of the moon than the surface of the Grinnell Galcier.

The team had to endure harsh conditions, surviving temperatures of minus 50 degrees Celsius, winds of up to 70 miles an hour, and disorientating round-the-clock daylight. They all had cooking duties, and had to eat high-energy foods such as noodles and pasta. For the first week, the team were given a wooden toilet seat in the snow, to use as a toilet, but after that they had to make do with a hole dug in the snow.

The first programme in the series showed the gruelling selection procedure for the expedition. As well as interviews and auditions, applicants had to prove their ability in tasks such as taking a dead bird, and turning it into something edible. Something which proved difficult for some of the children who were used to pre-packaged food.

Serious Arctic was the third "Serious..." programme to be made. It follows Serious Jungle and Serious Desert, and was narrated by Fearne Cotton. Serious Arctic was filmed in early 2004, and was broadcast on BBC One and the CBBC channel in early 2005. A fourth series, entitled Serious Amazon is currently in development, and will be broadcast in 2006.