Attenborough's suffering penguin mothers had me in blizzards of tears | Suzanne Moore

I know I should be thinking of the polar ice caps melting on Dynasties, but it was the birds huddling together that got meAfter Louis Theroux's documentary on assisted dying, there was a helpline number to call. He had dealt sensitively with the dying and those who wanted to. But I was already wrung out as I had watched Dynasties, the David Attenborough series. It was about penguins - and I needed a helpline. It was gruelling stuff, unbearable in places. People with cancer choosing their own end you would expect to make you cry - but penguins?I understand George Monbiot's point about Attenborough's docs presenting a pristine world that does not show the extent of ecological devastation. I get it. There is surely nowhere more pristine than the crystalline whiteness of the Antarctic. But that's not what got me, the polar caps melting. Sorry George. No, what got me was the actual bloody penguins. Continue reading...