"Imagine Apollo 11 had gone around the dark side of the moon and evaporated without a trace. That was the impact we are talking about. The entire world was mesmerised by the disappearance of Franklin and the greatest search operation in history found almost nothing".

Sir Ranulph Fiennes - Polar Explorer

A documentary film about one of the greatest mysteries in the history of exploration: the extraordinary story of John Franklin the explorer who sailed into the Arctic in search of a Northwest Passage and never came back. Two ships and 129 men vanished without a trace. Their disappearance spawned the greatest manhunt ever mounted and the full story remains an enigma that has confounded for 150 years. But today a team of scientists and explorers are determined to solve the Franklin mystery. Forensic researchers have found skeletons of white men littered across the arctic wastes, which betray all the signs of cannibalism, others claim botulism or lead poisoning killed Franklin & his men. In 2004 a small team headed back to the frozen north on the trail of the ultimate prize - Franklin's ship HMS Terror - one of the most important undiscovered shipwrecks in the world and the only site ever to be declared a National Monument in Canada before it is even found. The diving team believe HMS Terror is intact - sitting upright on the Arctic sea bed - with crucial answers to the mystery residing in its hold. And after collecting data on their earlier Arctic expeditions, the team believe they have the prize within their grasp. This film has exclusive access to that search.

But this quest forms only part of a highly ambitious international documentary film which along with the modern Arctic adventure, will combine dramatic film reconstructions, the personal stories & obsessions of the modern Franklin hunters with truly remarkable history to tell the story of one of the most dramatic sagas in man's exploration of Planet Earth. It will be directed by Emmy winner Peter Bate, one of Britain's finest documentary filmmakers, hugely experienced in teasing great stories out of some of the world's harshest environments.

Directed by Peter Bates
Filmed by John Woods, Laurence Jones, John Murray

Produced by John Murray

For all enquiries please contact info@ctlfilms.com

Sales Agent Beyond Distribution

See production photographs Links to:
Franklin info - www.ric.edu/rpotter/SJFranklin.html