Modern Times: the Vikings are Coming, TV review: Brilliant documentary turns an interesting statistic into an intimate study

The Vikings Are Coming is an excellent documentary from BBC2's recently revived Modern Times (BBC)

There was a Scandi invasion afoot in The Vikings Are Coming, an excellent documentary from BBC2's recently revived Modern Times strand. Sue Bourne's one-off film took an interesting statistic – Danish sperm now makes up a third of the total used by UK fertility clinics – and turned it into an intimate study of five women en route to motherhood.

In moving video diaries, Gemma, 40, and single, explained her feelings as she reached the end of a gruelling year of fertility treatments, and we followed gay couple Kel and Anna as they gleefully shopped for sperm donors. "It's more difficult to adopt a puppy than it is to order sperm off the internet," said Kel.

The only downside to Bourne's approach was how it rendered the male experience peripheral. In documentary, as in life, perhaps, but those donors we did glimpse were intriguing enough to warrant further exploration. Some of these "Vikings" are so popular they'll soon have hundreds of offspring roaming the Earth. What happens in 18 years' time, when they all turn up on daddy's doorstep? "Yes, it could be a fantastic party!" said the cheerful boss of one sperm bank. Hmmm.