Episode Four – Winter In this brand new four part series for ITV1, everyone’s favourite gardener, Alan Titchmarsh, goes back to his roots to find out how our changing seasons affect everything around us. The series reveals the profound and far-reaching impact that each season has on our wildlife and landscape, and how they shape the way we all live. In the fourth programme Alan takes us through winter, when the scarcity of food means nature has to be at its most inventive to ensure wildlife and plants survive through until spring. The programme’s broad scope encompasses how climate change endangers hibernating mammals, the history behind the year’s most magical festivals, and how the cold dark days affect our mood and health. Alan explains that keeping warm is a constant requirement for all mammals in winter, and they use various means to achieve this. The programme shows sheep in Yorkshire who can survive buried in snow for two weeks by living off the fat they have stored in their bodies. Amphibians such as toads and frogs spend the coldest days submerged in mud at the bottom of ponds, while smaller mammals, such as bats and hedgehogs spend the winter months in hibernation. The Seasons shows that of all the mammals we humans have taken the most radical steps to protect ourselves from the extremes of winter. We are cocooned in our centrally heated hermetically sealed homes and workplaces, but Alan reveals the downside to this comfort. We have created the perfect breeding ground for germs, which is why cases of flu, colds and bronchitis rise during the winter months. Alan looks at the seasonal festivals of Christmas and Hogmanay, and he explains how midwinter festivals were held in Britain long before Christianity reached our shores. Lerwick in the Shetland Islands is Britain’s most northerly town, and gets very little daylight in winter months. Every year, towards the end of January, the inhabitants hold a huge party, called Uphelier, in the belief it will help kick-start spring. The programme shows the awe-inspiring celebrations, as a torch lit procession culminates in the residents setting fire to a Viking long-ship. Alan explains that for people who work on the land the closing days of winter are a chance to prepare for warmer days. Dry stone walls, damaged by winter frosts are repaired, and fields are ploughed in preparation for new crops. As the season, and series, draws to a close Alan says: “The whole joy of the year. is its progress from season to season. A series of fascinating changes that makes up life on these islands.”

• Alan Titchmarsh