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This is the terrifying moment a wildlife film-maker almost became lunch for a ravenous polar bear.

Wildlife filmmaker Gordon Buchanan comes face-to-face with a hungry 36-stone polar bear looking for a meal.

The eight-foot predator spent 40 minutes attacking a protective perspex ice cube Gordon stood inside while shooting dramatic footage for a TV mini series.

The adult female bear was hunting for food for herself and two young cubs.

(Image: BBC / SWNS)

Gordon, aged 40, admitted he had never been so afraid during 20 years filming the world’s deadliest creatures.

He spent a year following the family of polar bears - dubbed mum Lyra and cubs Miki and Luca.

Gordon risked long journeys across ice in plunging temperatures and battling violent storms before the mother bear confronted him in Svalbard in the Arctic region of Norway.

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He said today: “A lot of people think carnivores are intrinsically dangerous but most aren’t - there’s a minimal risk and attacks are the exception.

“But polar bears are different - without a doubt she wanted me for lunch. She was so persistent, looking for a weak spot for almost 45 minutes.

“I was terrified and you could hear my heartbeat on the mic. It really was a sensational moment and a worrying situation.

“It shows how enormous and powerful they are.

“It is the most difficult thing I have done and the scariest. I’ve not been terrified for 40 minutes before.”

Gordon was making a three-part series called “The Polar Bear Family and Me”.

(Image: BBC / SWNS)

The film crew were forced to flee on snow mobiles several times when the polar bears edged closer and closer to them.

The perspex box Gordon used for much of the filming was thought to be “pretty much bombproof” - but there was a risk it could become brittle in extreme low temperatures.

Gordon added: “There’s no doubt polar bear cubs are the cutest animals in the world and even the adults have an aesthetic which isn’t threatening.

“But the polar bear is the animal I have the most respect for, it is the largest and strongest land carnivore. They are such inquisitive animals too.

“The landscape is pretty featureless and it is amazing how they appear from nowhere.

“With most carnivores you can see their food source but you have to work really hard to find the animals polar bears feed on.”

The series will be screened on BBC2 on three consecutive nights next week - starting on Monday at 9.30pm.