In 1914 on the eve of the First World War, Sir Ernest Shackleton (Kenneth Branagh) set out to be the first to cross the South Polar Continent, his expedition was a failure but has gone down in history as the greatest survival story of all time. This spectacular film by award winning writer/director Charles Sturridge (Longitude, Gulliver's Travels) tells for the first time the true story of the events leading up to the expedition and charts in graphic detail the lives of the twenty eight men after their ship was crushed and sank, forcing Shackleton to lead them to safety across the ice, the sea and finally the uncharted mountains of South Georgia.