It struck me that the BBC is undergoing some kind of conversion trauma or crisis at the moment. Up till now they have either ignored or underplayed any serious debate of the impending climate catastrophe facing mankind. Even quite recently ex-BBC weatherman Bill Giles was advising UK seaside resorts to welcome and prepare for hordes of foreign visitors fleeing "unbearable" temperatures on the Continent. Putting a positive spin on a planet heating up beyond any hope of control or reversal.
But as with the Simon Reeve doc, they have at last realised they can't keep a lid any more on the stark scientific facts and, to maintain any semblance of credibility they have to start treating this subject seriously and honestly or else become a laughing stock. I think the tipping point in their change of attitude (obviously a policy and editorial decision from high up in the organisation) was when the saintly David Attenborough spoke up about climate change (and even Saint David was 20 years behind the curve) and of course the corporation can't go against anything he says because he's one of their brightest stars and can do no wrong.
I'm pretty sure a programme as outspoken on the environmental disaster awaiting us as Simon Reeve's wouldn't have been broadcast on the BBC even two years ago. It's a sobering measure of how fast the climate chickens are coming home to roost and on how the establishment has at last been forced to acknowledge openly what the rest of us have known for at least a couple of decades. Welcome to the real world, BBC. What kept you?