Walking With Dinosaurs is the most successful television documentary series of all time. Not only did the show receive colossal viewing figures, to date it has led to a numerous sequels, merchandising, books, a full-scale touring stage show and film, and changed the way documentaries were made forever. Inspired by the colossal success of Jurassic Park, the series combined state of the art computer animation with the style of award-winning documentaries made by the BBC Natural History Unit¹.

Ever since the first statues of dinosaurs were made for Crystal Palace Park, people have been trying to see what dinosaurs looked like and how they interacted with their landscape. Walking with Dinosaurs was the first truly successful attempt to realistically bring dinosaurs to life in everyone's homes all around the world.

Walking with Dinosaurs (1999)

The six 30-minute series was conceived by Tim Haines, who later founded his own company called Impossible Pictures. He convinced the BBC that it was possible to make a dinosaur documentary programme on a television budget. Interested in the project, the BBC provided Haines with the money to make a six-minute pilot to investigate whether his claims were practical. Haines did some basic location filming with a cameraman and working with Mike Milne, Director of Computer Animation at FrameStore, to bring his actions to life. This pilot convinced Jana Bennett, the BBC's Director of Television, to commission what was to become the most expensive factual series of all time.

Haines then consulted with a team of over 100 scientists. These experts had a wide range of specialities, including palaeobotany, palaeoentomology, palaeoclimatogy² as well as palaeontology, to advise his team of documentary makers on not only the appearance of the dinosaurs based on the latest available research, but also their entire world; climate, plants and other surroundings.

The dinosaurs were modelled, scanned into a computer and brought to life in CGI by a team of 15 computer animators; 9 animators, two programmers, one skin-designer and three technical supports. This was done with the aid of palaeontologists and studying other animals alive today. The series made full use of life-sized animatronic puppets in the close-up shots. It took 18 months to make the six-episode programme.

To make the series completely realistic, the series was filmed in real locations, closely matching the environments to those in which the dinosaurs actually lived. These were found all around the world, such as New Caledonia representing the Triassic, Californian redwood forests doubled for the Jurassic, and the lava fields of Chile became the volcanic Cretaceous.
To encourage the belief that the dinosaurs were genuinely interacting with their environment, when the dinosaurs move by, trees sway, footprints are left, splashes and other small interactions made, so that when the digital dinosaurs were added, they looked like they were physically in the environment. Shadows add the final touch.

Well, we're filming nothing. The animals, they're not there, and we've got to imagine them and we've got to do everything for them, because they don't yet exist. So we were going along, setting the camera up, filming an empty shot and then going around kicking up dust, knocking over trees, moving branches. All that kind of thing, all the things they would do if they'd bothered to turn up

- Jasper James, Series Producer

The series made contribution in palaeontology, for instance an animatronic model of a Diplodocus head built to exactly recreate a Diplodocus' mouth was filmed eating ferns. It was discovered that the mouth was designed to perfectly strip foliage off ferns rather than bite them off.

Episodes

Every episode was narrated by Sir Kenneth Branagh.

Animals in Bold appear in more than one series.

400 million viewers watched the series worldwide, breaking many national records, such as becoming the most-watched programme on America's Discovery Channel. Unsurprisingly following this success, Walking With Dinosaurs was one of the BBC's first DVD releases, for sale in 2000.

There were some criticisms of the series, particularly from Creationists and from rival palaeontologists. Creationists in America's Bible Belt were upset that the series promoted evolution, while many palaeontologists argued that the series was not 100% accurate and therefore as audiences would not know the fact from fiction, speculation from spectacle, it was wrong. Yet the programme had been made for entertainment, not as an unchallengeable academic thesis, with the audience accepting that the show was intended as an entertaining 'best guess'. This did not stop disagreements over whether Placerias peed or if the series had exaggerated the size of different animals for dramatic effect.

The success of the series saw applications for university courses on palaeontology skyrocket. The BBC employed the techniques that it had pioneered on Walking with Dinosaurs in their subsequent documentary series, such as Supervolcano, Seven Industrial Wonders, Pompeii, Colosseum, which combined dramatic special effects with a cinematic effect. The BBC also commissioned a live palaeontology television series in 2001, Live from Dinosaur Island, filmed on the Isle of Wight. The Polacanthus model on display on the Isle of Wight's Dinosaur Isle museum is also closely based on the appearance of the Polacanthus in the television series.

Many of the experts behind Walking with Dinosaurs, such as Dr Dave Martill of Portsmouth University, would continue to work closely with animators on programmes such as the BBC's similar Planet Dinosaur (2012), which is unrelated to the Walking with Dinosaurs series.

The Ballad of Big Al (2000)

Following the original series' success, a follow-up 'Christmas Special' was inevitable. This, The Ballad of Big Al, was the dramatisation based on a well-preserved Allosaurus skeleton found in Wyoming, USA in 1991. This is on display at the University of Wyoming Geological Museum. An accompanying making of was also made, called Big Al: The Science. Both were narrated by Kenneth Branagh.

The Lost World (2001)

Following Walking With Dinosaurs' success at creating the most successful documentary series of all time, and having created both computer models and actual physical animatronic dinosaurs, it was perhaps inevitable that a logical next step would be an adaptation of the greatest dinosaur story of all time.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, best known for creating Sherlock Holmes, wrote The Lost World in 1912. In it, an expedition led by Professor Challenger discovers living dinosaurs still in existence. This tale has been adapted for film and television many times, most notably in the 1925 adaptation, but also in films made in 1960, 1992, 1998 and a very loosely based television series still on air at the time of the BBC's adaptation.

The BBC version married the effects it had pioneered for Walking with Dinosaurs with their high-quality record on costume dramas to create a stunning historical two-part mini-series, broadcast on Christmas Day and Boxing Day 2001.

Walking with Beasts (2001)

After the phenomenal success of the original series, it was inevitable that another series would be commissioned. However, rather than simply doing the same again, with more dinosaurs of different species, it was decided to pick up where Walking with Dinosaurs had left off – the extinction of the dinosaurs by meteorite. Walking with Beasts told the story of the subsequent rise of the mammals in a further six episodes. This was a far more challenging series to make, as feathers and fur are far more difficult to animate than a dinosaur's scaly skin, and the audience not only had high expectations, but people know how mammals move, so a greater degree of realism.

Despite these challenges, the series was more popular in Italy and Germany than Walking with Dinosaurs had been. Broadcast in November 2001, shortly after the ITV Digital's collapse had been rescued by the BBC to create Freeview, it was one of the first programmes shown on the BBC Freeview service to make extensive use of the BBCi Red Button facility, including live commentaries by the production staff. Inexplicably, this content did not make it to the DVD release.

Animals in italics are birds, not mammals.

Walking with Cavemen (2002)

Following Walking with Beasts, which dealt with how early man such as a Australopithecus evolved into Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon man, especially in the accompanying making of documentary The Beasts Within, this natural follow-on series dwelt entirely with cavemen and the ascent of man. Unlike the previous instalments, Tim Haines did not produce it, nor did Kenneth Branagh narrate it. Instead Professor Robert Winston starred. This meant that by filming a host for much of the time, the budget could stretch much further as fewer impressive, and expensive, effects shots were needed, especially as the cavemen are portrayed by actors in prosthetics rather than CGI as in Beasts.

More educational than entertainment, it contains fewer creatures than Dinosaurs or Beasts. Some of the creatures in Walking with Beasts do make brief cameo appearances. The series seems almost a cross between 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes.

One cannot help but wonder whether the series would have been more successful if, instead of having episodes set 3 million years ago, 2 million years ago, half a million years ago and 30,000 years ago, they had an episode set in One Million Years BC. This was a time in which, according to Ray Harryhausen, cave women looked like Raquel Welch...

Walking with Dinosaurs: Specials (2002)

Having realised that it was cheaper to film a host rather than expensive CGI dinosaurs, two Walking with Dinosaurs specials were made. These featured an awful lot of zoologist Nigel Marvin, and had occasional glimpses of dinosaurs.

Somehow, Nigel has travelled back in time to the age of the dinosaurs. In the first episode he investigates the largest dinosaurs known, Argentinosaurus and Giganotosaurus, and in the second he looks for a very bizarre dinosaur nicknamed the 'Giant Claw', Therizinosaurus.

These episodes, are also nicknamed Chased by Dinosaurs. Sadly, none of the computer generated predators actually catches and eats Nigel, despite his habit of sleeping in the age of the dinosaurs inside thin canvas tents, not bothering with defensive protection such as body armour, and walking around on foot, rather than inside armour-plated tracked vehicles.

Sea Monsters (2003)

Essentially 'Swimming with Sea Monsters', this highly enjoyable Walking with Dinosaur three-episode spin off series' basic premise is that Nigel Marvin and his boat, the Ancient Mariner, are able to travel through time. The boat goes back and forth through prehistory in order for Marvin to have a swim in the seven deadliest seas of all time. The deadliness of the seas is defined by the presence of the monstrous creatures within them: sharks, sea scorpions, marine reptiles and mammals.

Unlike previous series, each episode takes place in at least two different time zones, which keeps the series moving at an exciting pace. Even the presence of Nigel Marvin ensures that the audience gets an appreciation of the scale of the creatures involved. Each episode ends with a dramatic cliffhanger that makes the audience jump up shouting Yes! Nigel's finally been eaten! but at the start of the next episode, in true serial cliff-hanger style, it is sadly revealed how he survived⁴...

Animals in italics are not aquatic.

Walking with Monsters (2005)

Following Sea Monsters, it was announced that Tim Haines and his company Impossible Pictures would make a prequel series 'to complete the trilogy'. This was the sixth series, following Walking With Dinosaurs and specials, Walking with Beasts, Walking with Cavemen, Sea Monsters and The Lost World. Sadly Cavemen, The Lost World and Sea Monsters didn't seem to count. It did, however, follow Sea Monsters' approach in having the first episode cover three different time periods, and the following two episodes cover two episodes each.

This short series took 3 years and cost £3 million to make, which combined with the original episodes of Dinosaurs and Beasts meant that the three main series had cost approximately £15 million. Kenneth Branagh returned for the last time to provide narrating duties.

The series told the story of life before the dinosaurs, from the very beginnings and including the first animals to walk on land. It also used far more realistic computer generated images than before, with them being used up close, rather than cutting to animatronic puppets.

Prehistoric Park (2006)

Acknowledging the influence of Jurassic Park, this television series of six 45-minute episodes showed Nigel Marvin attempting to create his own wildlife sanctuary and safari park for prehistoric animals in its image. The series follows on Sea Monsters, shows Nigel travelling into the past to rescue the extinct animals seen in Walking with Dinosaurs, Beasts and Monsters and transport them back to the future. His team in the park in the present includes vet Suzanne and park keeper Bob. Bob spends half his time building knee-high cages that couldn't contain clumsy geriatric gerbils out of matchsticks and balsa wood, and the other half wondering how and why all the dinosaurs have escaped from his incompetent enclosures. Again.

Narrated by David Jason, this series was broadcast on ITV but was made by Tim Haines' company, Impossible Pictures, with the effects by FrameStore.

Animals in italics appear in the episode, but are not taken back to Prehistoric Park.

Primeval (2007-2011)

In 2005 the BBC brought back Doctor Who, a science-fiction programme about a man who could travel back and forth in time and have adventures with monsters, which was quickly restored to being one of British television's most successful programmes. ITV wanted something similar, and Tim Haines’ experienced Impossible Pictures team had the answer. Following on from Prehistoric Park, they now introduced a series in which time portals from different eras in the past start bringing back prehistoric monsters to within easy commuting distance of a top-secret organisation in the present. This organisation seems to have spent its entire budget on gadgets and gizmos and does not have any money left for basic protection like helmets or kevlar body armour. Sadly employee Abby Maitland, played by former S Club 7 singer Hannah Spearitt, is paid so little that she cannot even afford to wear skirts or trousers, spending much of her time in only pants. Fortunately she has found that it is easier to kick-box T-Rexes, occasionally while listening to her own greatest hits, when unencumbered by restrictive legwear. Her boss, dinosaur hunter Nick Cutter, has meanwhile learnt that the fiercest monster of all is an angry ex-wife.

The five series made were highly enjoyable silly fun and even inspired a brief Canadian spin-off, Primeval: New World.

March of the Dinosaurs (2011)

A feature-length documentary film narrated by Stephen Fry that follows the Arctic journey of a young Edmontosaurus, with the title inspired by the success of March of the Penguins. Inexplicably, ITV chose to broadcast this on Easter Saturday in 2011, when their intended audience was watching the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who on BBC1.

Despite being shown on ITV, this was made by Impossible Pictures. Unlike Walking with Dinosaurs, it was not filmed at real locations but landscapes as well as the dinosaurs were 100% generated by computer.

Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie (2013)

Walking With Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie is a truly spectacular visual feast that recreates the world of dinosaurs in an amazingly picturesque landscape. Every shot featuring dinosaurs is a breathless work of art that truly stuns and brings dinosaurs back to life in a way unknown since the glory days of Ray Harryhausen or Jurassic Park. That said, the film does have three weak areas:

• The Dialogue
• The Plot
• The Dialogue

Technically that may seem to be only two weak areas, but the dialogue is so unbelievably bad it counts twice.

First of all, the plot. There is no denying that the 87-minute long Walking With Dinosaurs film bares some resemblance to the 85-minute March of the Dinosaurs. Both are set in North America 70 million years ago. Both feature the same types of dinosaur, namely Pachyrhinosaurus, Edmontosaurus, Gorgosaurus, Troodon, Edmontia and the pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus. Both tell the life story of a young male dinosaur⁵ who through curiosity leaves the safety of the herd at a young age, is attacked by a predator and is left with a scar or wound on his head for the rest of his life as a result. Both then proceed to narrate the events of his herd's annual migration south, and in both the herd are ambushed by Gorgosaurus and the young male is separated from his herd, with only a couple of other companions. Both involve the hero braving to swim across a rushing river and in both, the hero's herd crosses a frozen lake.

There are, of course, some differences. For instance, March has a male character named 'Patch' while the film has a male character called 'Patchi'. The film also has a clichéd love triangle between Patchi, a female Pachyrhinosaurus and his brother and an accompanying bird narrator. Blink-and-you'll-miss-'em sequences set in the present day bookend the film, informing the audience that palaeontologists are cool too. But the main difference is the dialogue. March of the Dinosaurs was authoritatively narrated by the velvet tones of Stephen Fry⁶, the film is only one up on babbling baby language.

Talking with Dinosaurs?

Walking With Dinosaurs was made by the BBC and financed independently, but distributed by 20th Century Fox. Although the BBC had intended the film to be narrated just as the television series had – after all, 400 million viewers of the original television series can't be wrong – 20th Century Fox, the studio that cancelled Firefly, Family Guy and Futurama, disagreed. 20th Century Fox decided that the film should steer away from the Walking with Dinosaurs unique selling point, and instead be more like an episode of The Land Before Time or Disney's Dinosaur. So juvenile dialogue not even lip-synched was rush-written at the last minute, performed by the titular voice-actor from Alvin and the Chipmunks. Though you might feel that North American dinosaurs might reasonably have, say, a Canadian or other North American accent, instead the Alexornis is inexplicably Spanish.

The time and effort spent on the heavenly location shooting and crafting the breathtaking animation deserve so much better than the dialogue and plot provide. It was the dialogue that critics worldwide criticised the film for, and is believed to have been responsible for the film's poor performance at the box office, having deterred otherwise interested adults from seeing it. Hopefully the film, when released to the home viewing market, will have an alternative soundtrack available to allow the film to be enjoyed and appreciated.