
Like last week’s opening show, Planet Earth II left Sir David Attenborough looking not so much the saint we’d always thought he was but a heartless sadist.

Not a TV God or English gent, but well a total bastard intent on making us all suffer.

Certainly so far it has been torture with the great man preying on viewers' nerves as ruthlessly as the predators he was showing us.

Episode one of the follow-up to his 2006 series had been the stuff of nightmares.

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Get ready for tears! Like last week’s opening show, Planet Earth II left Sir David Attenborough looking not so much the saint we’d always thought he was but a heartless sadist

It was a salutary, if familiar, lesson. Nature was cruel of course we all knew that. The clarity and lack of sentimentality in his voice confirmed so was Attenborough

Attenborough had celebrated its return by horrifying the entire nation with the revelation – and the illustration – of one species of snakes hunted in packs. The sight of aptly named Racer Snakes pursuing hatchling lizards like low-flying fighter jets (very low) was a nerve-shredding, surreal, scene we’d imagined could only happen in a Hollywood blockbuster (Iguana Jones & The Temple Of Doom).

Not satiated Attenborough had added heart-breaking, frankly gratuitous, footage of a female tern trying to hatch her single (shattered) egg and paternal penguins battling to feed their chicks (and being bloodily dashed against the rocks).

Life was tough. For us that is, never mind the penguins.

TV rollercoaster: Episode Two confirmed Planet Earth II promises, or threatens to be viewers’ most emotional, exhausting, rollercoaster from Attenborough yet

Like nature’s predators, Sir David targeted the young as the means to set our pulses racing

Attenborough used the 'rape' of majestic Snow Leopards to make viewers suffer in Planet Earth II

Episode Two confirmed Planet Earth II promises, or threatens to be viewers’ most emotional, exhausting, rollercoaster from Attenborough yet - a stunning but savage insight into nature's most elusive and beautiful creatures.

Like nature’s predators, Sir David targeted the young as the means to set our pulses racing.

Two cuddly grizzly bear cubs tumbling in the Rocky Mountains’ snow were adorable. Trust Attenborough to spoil it, turning it into a scene of tense, possibly fatal, terror by revealing their mother was leading them across avalanche territory.

When you saw the fierce devastation these created, you feared the worst but thankfully the family prevailed.

When the snows melted, the way the grizzlies celebrated, standing on all fours, rubbing its back up against a tree, with a crazy scratching action, came as light relief - a furry flapper’s dance somewhere between Baloo and Beyonce.

Treat: Two cuddly grizzly bear cubs tumbling in the Rocky Mountains’ snow were adorable

If these narrow escapes seemed like good news they shouldn’t have. In fact, where Attenborough was concerned, the contrary...

The fun was only fleeting though – a device Sir David had used to bring us down.

‘In these mountains the good times will not last long,’ he announced starkly. ‘Summer is short.’

He could say that again. The temperature dropped to minus 54.

Attenborough’s next victims, the cute kid goats in the sun-baked semi-Martian mountains of the Arabian Peninsula, had the opposite problem. Here the herds of Nubian Ibex chose to live up the ‘dizzyingly steep’, sandy-coloured, cliffs because (ironically) they were the safest place to raise their young.

What a view: Attenborough’s next victims, the cute kid goats in the sun-baked semi-Martian mountains of the Arabian Peninsula

Just how heartless he really was came as a shock though when it emerged he had been toying with us and our emotions

The sheer drops and lack of natural footholds meant they were safe from any adversaries such as the Red Fox.

The absence of flat paths or ledges though also meant there was no water. Seeing the newborn baby Ibex tentatively slipping, sliding, and scrambling 1000 feet as they made their first descent to drink had more suspense than the Mission Impossible heist – especially when a fox sat at the bottom, watching and waiting for one to fall into its lap (or rather its jaws). At one point the rocks were so vertical you could have sworn the young goats were stuck to them by Velcro.

Surprisingly, Mr Fox was foiled.

Danger: Here the herds of Nubian Ibex chose to live up the ‘dizzyingly steep’, sandy-coloured, cliffs because (ironically) they were the safest place to raise their young

Home sweet home: The sheer drops and lack of natural footholds meant they were safe from any adversaries such as the Red Fox

Predator: A fox sat at the bottom, watching and waiting for one to fall into its lap (or rather its jaws)

If these narrow escapes seemed like good news they shouldn’t have. In fact, where Attenborough was concerned, the contrary...

You knew tragedy would come eventually. Like the Nubian Ibex goats, we could run but we couldn’t hide.

You almost wished the clumsiest kid had perished after all when the clock told you only the section on nature’s most beautiful, beautiful, big cat (that we had been promised in the show’s opening teaser) remained.

This was such a rare, bewitching, creature that even David Attenborough gasped when it appeared: ‘the snow leopard !’

Harsh: The absence of flat paths or ledges though also meant there was no water

On the edge of our seats: Seeing the newborn baby Ibex tentatively slipping, sliding, and scrambling 1000 feet as they made their first descent to drink had more suspense than the Mission Impossible heist

It's funny how you can go off someone - and something. After this episode of Planet Earth II, we wouldn't feel about Snow Leopards the same way. Not the males at least.

We were in the Himalayas where the effects of climate change were drastically shrinking the snowline (its natural habitat) - exacerbating the challenge of survival for what he rightly called ‘one of the most majestic mountain creatures of all.’

Snow leopards were so seldom seen he said, being so solitary that even such a legendary authority as Attenborough found ‘the detail of their lives has long been a mystery.’

But now the latest remote camera technology could take us closer to Snow Leopards’ daily existence than ever – maybe too close it turned out.

The clues that Something Bad Was Going To Happen soon arrived.

Stunning: You almost wished the clumsiest kid had perished after all when the clock told you only the section on nature’s most beautiful, beautiful, big cat (that we had been promised in the show’s opening teaser) remained

Rare sighting: There may be as few as 3,500 snow leopards left in the wild and they are famously elusive and difficult to film

Bewitching: This was such a rare, bewitching, creature that even David Attenborough gasped when it appeared: ‘the snow leopard !’

Only four snow leopards were hiding out in the valleys and mountains spread over the 40 square mile area but, Attenborough explained gravely, ‘there is still simply not enough prey to sustain them all.’

This did not bode well, especially when Sir David added chillingly: ‘and when they do meet it is often violent.’

When the cameras found one female Snow Leopard that had ‘devoted the last two years to raising her cub (which was still ‘entirely dependent’) you sensed the chances of them both surviving were slim. This left viewers facing the animal kingdom equivalent of Sophie’s Choice.

Vast area: Only four snow leopards were hiding out in the valleys and mountains spread over the 40 square mile area

Bond: A snow leopard mother (left) and her daughter, who will soon go their separate ways as the cub faces survival alone

Given that the mother could have other offspring and that without her to protect or provide for her daughter, the youngster would soon starve anyway, you soon saw it would be better if it were the cub that died. If the alternative was both going, to your horror you started actually willing it.

Hearing that the mother was in heat suggested she could add to the species shrinking numbers but was not good news.

It actually meant they could diminish – by one.

Extraordinary footage: The Planet Earth II crew were able to get closer to hunting bobcats than anyone ever before

Danger zone: Attenborough explained gravely, ‘there is still simply not enough prey to sustain them all'

Trouble ahead: This did not bode well, especially when Sir David added chillingly: ‘and when they do meet it is often violent'

'They strapped a GoPro on an eagle?' Viewers baffled - and amazed - by stunning camera work The Planet Earth II team managed to film golden eagles, which are found throughout the mountain ranges of Europe, Russia, north-west Africa, Asia and North America - and have outstanding aerial speed and manoeuvrability for their large size The latest episode provided a great challenge for the crew, who wanted to give viewers intimate glimpses into the secretive lives of mountain animals, which are amongst the most elusive in the world. The Planet Earth II team managed to film golden eagles, which are found throughout the mountain ranges of Europe, Russia, north-west Africa, Asia and North America - and have outstanding aerial speed and manoeuvrability for their large size. After the show aired, the team amazed audiences as they explained how they parachuted through the skies in a bid to mimic the movement of a golden eagle to get the very best camera shots. Golden eagles are one of the few birds powerful enough to fly at high altitude in the world's great mountain ranges. To experience the beautiful but perilous world through the eyes of a majestic golden eagle, Planet Earth II turned to a very special camera team. Jaques-Olivier Travers is a raptor conservationist who trains eagles in the hope of returning them to fly in the wild. He fitted a miniature 4k 'lipstick' camera to a young golden eagle called 'Slovak'. Their partnership was filmed over the course of a winter in the high Alps. The footage they returned with captured a glimpse of this high altitude world, from the perspective of a soaring eagle. When combined with footage of wild birds the onboard camera shots give us the true sensation of what it feels like to fly 5000m above the Alps Advertisement

‘Males kill cubs that are not their own,’ Sir David said sombrely and her suitors would soon know she was in heat.

His famously staccato delivery made the events that followed even starker.

‘Snow Leopards meet so infrequently there is uncertainty and tension,’ he warned when a male’s first approach to the mother resulted in them scrapping.

‘And it’s about to get worse,’ Attenborough added.

Here we go, you thought – even though you didn’t see how it could.

‘Another, bigger, male has arrived.’

Gulp.

Attenborough's famously staccato delivery made the events in this episode even starker

Landscape: We were in the Himalayas where the effects of climate change were drastically shrinking the snowline (its natural habitat)

More danger: Hearing that the mother was in heat suggested she could add to the species shrinking numbers but was not good news

‘A fight is inevitable. Soon the mother and cub are trapped between the rivals.’

Yikes. It was a riveting scene that was, equally (and typically for these shows), unbearable to watch.

Heroically, the mum rolled over submissively, offering herself to the winner to divert his attention from her cub, giving the chance to escape.

Peeking from behind the rocks, the poor thing saw it all as his mother being walloped when she tried to sneak away before the inevitable mating took place. (In this case 'mating' was essentially just nature’s word for rape).

The mother and daughter were eventually re-united, but any relief or happiness was short-lived as Attenborough announced: ‘but she has been injured.’

Scrap: Two males dramatically fought over the female

Alarmingly the music in the background grew sadder and sadder as the bloodied and battered mother hobbled away with her cub forlornly following.

Sure enough, Sir David continued: ‘she won’t be able to hunt.’

We reached for the tissues.

‘Mother and cub were not seen again...’

A nation sobbed.

It was a salutary, if familiar, lesson. Nature was cruel of course we all knew that. The clarity and lack of sentimentality in his voice confirmed so was Attenborough.

Mum duties: Heroically, the mum rolled over submissively, offering herself to the winner to divert his attention from her cub, giving the chance to escape

He had seen such simple mini tragedies thousands of times before.

Just how heartless he really was came as a shock though when it emerged he had been toying with us and our emotions as callously as a cat that had come home with a mouse it had caught but not quite killed.

He had paused just long enough for us to wipe our eyes and compose ourselves when he began again: ‘Until...A month later. A remote camera was triggered high on a ridge.’

The snow leopard that crossed the screen was ‘the female - no longer limping but alone.’

Clue: Alarmingly the music in the background grew sadder and sadder

It was sad about her daughter, you thought. But at least somehow she had made it.

Another pause. Then Attenborough’s voice showed no sign of the triumph he must have felt as he revealed: ‘an hour after the female has left the camera was triggered again. It’s her cub - taking her first steps towards independence.’

A happy ending ! Or as close as we were going to get to one on this show.

‘She is unlikely to see her mother again,’ Attenborough intoned finally.

Kids eh?!