© BBC Pictures
A Mirror report hit out at the BBC for failing to inform viewers that scenes of a polar bear being born were actually captured in a man-made den in an animal park.
Presenter Sir David Attenborough referred to the cubs being born "beneath the snow" and the footage was shown alongside images of polar bears in the wild, said the paper.
Viewers only found out that the birth was not in the wild by visiting the Frozen Planet website and accessing a behind-the-scenes video by the producer, Kathryn Jeffs.
However, the corporation said that it would have been "impossible" to shoot the footage in the wild and claimed that the situation was clearly flagged up online.
"The commentary accompanying the sequence is carefully worded so it doesn't mislead the audience and the way the footage was captured is clearly explained on the programme website," said a BBC spokeswoman.
The scenes in question were broadcast on November 23 in episode five of Frozen Planet, which hit a peak audience of more than 8.5m viewers last month. The £16m BBC One documentary series ended last week.
This marks the second time that an Attenborough documentary series has been in hot water over footage of a polar bear birth, as 1997 programme BBC Wildlife Specials featured a shot taken in a Belgian zoo.
John Whittingdale, the chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport committee, told The Mirror that broadcasters "should not seek to give viewers a false impression and it is much better if they are entirely open".
"If this was not filmed in the wild it would have been much better to have made that clear in the commentary," he said.
"It's questionable how many people would visit the website and find the video clip which explained the circumstances of the filming."
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