History Hit is partnering with the South Georgia Heritage Trust (SGHT) on a new documentary retracing Sir Ernest Shackleton’s historic crossing of South Georgia, supported by live social coverage and an interactive digital recreation of a key location from the journey.
Historian and History Hit founder Dan Snow will make the crossing in November alongside polar explorer Preet Chandi and John Shears, who led the 2022 expedition that discovered the wreck of Shackleton’s ship, Endurance. The resulting documentary is scheduled to launch in spring 2027.
The team will follow the route taken by Shackleton, Frank Worsley and Tom Crean in May 1916. After the loss of Endurance left their expedition stranded in the Antarctic, the three men crossed the remote, mountainous island to reach the whaling station at Stromness and raise the alarm. The subsequent rescue operation brought home the crew members left behind on Elephant Island.
Although the modern expedition will have access to contemporary equipment, clothing, communications and navigational technology, the programme will explore the physical and psychological pressures involved in crossing South Georgia’s difficult terrain.
The project has been designed to extend beyond the finished film. Highlights from the expedition will be shared through Snow’s social channels while the crossing is taking place, giving audiences a near-real-time view of the journey ahead of the documentary’s release.
A high-resolution 3D model of the former Stromness Manager’s Villa, where Shackleton’s party found help, will also be unveiled at the conclusion of the crossing. The building is situated in a prohibited area and cannot be visited by the public, with the virtual recreation intended to make the heritage site accessible to audiences internationally.
“I have been fascinated by the Shackleton story since I was first told about it as a child,” said Snow. “By undertaking this journey, literally in Shackleton’s footsteps, we will be able to share that story with audiences across the world, while also physically experiencing the landscape and challenges ourselves.”
The documentary continues History Hit’s multi-platform approach to specialist factual content. Owned by Banijay Entertainment’s Little Dot Studios, the history brand operates an SVOD platform containing more than 1,000 programmes alongside podcast, YouTube, social and FAST channel activity.
History Hit has built a social audience of more than 2.5 million followers, while its principal YouTube channel generates more than seven million monthly views and 1.5 million hours of watch time. It also publishes full-length weekly programming across dedicated channels for Dan Snow’s History Hit, The Ancients and After Dark.
SGHT and the Friends of South Georgia Island have meanwhile been working with the territory’s government to stabilise and conserve the Stromness villa. SGHT chief executive Alison Neil said the documentary would bring the Shackleton story and the continuing preservation work to “a much wider audience”.
Dan Snow image courtesy History Hit
