The Winter's Tale

Winter is a season of contradictions. We may long for it to come, yet it can paralyse a continent and shape the course of history. This film visits Oymyakon in the far east of Siberia – the coldest town on earth, whose inhabitants may endure temperatures of minus 70 degrees centigrade – Mount Washington in New England, with an average of 250 inches of snow a year, and the Glencoe region of Scotland. The film also looks at the coldest British winter this century, in 1962-63, and people who have survived appalling mountain blizzards recall their experiences.