Walking with...

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title: "Walking with..." type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["walking-with...", "television-franchises", "documentary-films-about-prehistoric-life", "documentary-films-about-science", "documentary-television-shows-about-evolution", "mass-media-franchises-introduced-in-1999"] description: "Television series" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_with..." license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Television series ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox media franchise"]

Field	Value
title	Walking with...
image	Walking with.jpg
image_size	180px
caption	Cover of the Australian 2008 DVD box set of the franchise
creator	Tim Haines & Jasper James
origin	Walking with Dinosaurs
owner	BBC
books	See below
vgs	See below
tv_series	{{Plainlist
tv_specials	{{Plainlist
plays	Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular (2007-2019)
films	Walking with Dinosaurs (film) (2013)
::

| title = Walking with... | image = Walking with.jpg | image_size = 180px | caption = Cover of the Australian 2008 DVD box set of the franchise | creator = Tim Haines & Jasper James | origin = Walking with Dinosaurs | owner = BBC | books = See below | vgs = See below | tv_series = {{Plainlist|

• Walking with Dinosaurs (1999)
• Walking with Beasts (2001)
• Walking with Cavemen (2003)
• Sea Monsters (2003)
• Walking with Monsters (2005)
• Walking with Dinosaurs (2025)}} | tv_specials = {{Plainlist|
• The Ballad of Big Al (2000)
• The Giant Claw (2002)
• Land of Giants (2003)}} | plays = Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular (2007-2019) | films = Walking with Dinosaurs (film) (2013)

The Walking with... programmes were praised for their special effects and for their science communication. Though largely praised by scientists for the effort to adhere to science and for portraying prehistoric life as animals rather than movie monsters, some academic criticism has been leveled at the series for not making clear through their narration what is speculative and what is based in fact.

In addition to the five main series, the success of Walking with... also led to the production of the Walking with Dinosaurs special episodes The Ballad of Big Al, The Giant Claw and Land of Giants. The franchise has also been accompanied by several books, merchandise, video games and the live theatrical show Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular. In 2013, a movie based on Walking with Dinosaurs, with the same name, was directed by Neil Nightingale and Barry Cook. In 2025, a new Walking with Dinosaurs series was produced by BBC and PBS, with Kirsty Wilson as the showrunner.

Development

Original 1999 series

Main article: Walking with Dinosaurs#Production

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Eustreptospondylus_head.jpg" caption="Puppet head of the dinosaur ''[[Eustreptospondylus]]'', used in ''[[Walking with Dinosaurs]]'' (1999)"] ::

Walking with Dinosaurs was devised by the then BBC-employed science television producer Tim Haines in 1996. Inspired by the 1993 film Jurassic Park, Haines envisioned a more science-based documentary programme using the same techniques as Jurassic Park to bring dinosaurs to life. Though such a series was initially feared to be far too expensive to produce, particularly considering the production costs of Jurassic Park, Haines managed to bring down the costs through working with the award-winning UK-based graphics company Framestore. It was only after the production of a six-minute pilot episode in 1997 that Haines managed to secure funding for the series; Walking with Dinosaurs was funded by the BBC, BBC Worldwide and the Discovery Channel, alongside major investments from TV Asahi in Japan and ProSieben in Germany.** At a cost of £6.1 million ($9.9 million), Walking with Dinosaurs cost over £37,654 ($61,112) per minute to produce, making it the most expensive documentary series per minute ever made. The visual effects of Walking with Dinosaurs were done by Framestore and the puppets and animatronics were done by the special effects company Crawley Creatures.

The success of Walking with Dinosaurs led to the rapid creation of Walking with... as a brand of documentary series. In the aftermath of Walking with Dinosaurs, Haines founded the production company Impossible Pictures together with Jasper James, one of the producers on Walking with Dinosaurs.**

2000s

2000 saw the release of a special episode of Dinosaurs, The Ballad of Big Al, focusing on a single Allosaurus specimen.** The first entire sequel series released in 2001: Walking with Beasts, which explored the life of the Cenozoic, after the age of the dinosaurs. Like Walking with Dinosaurs before it, Beasts was the idea of Haines. Haines wished to introduce the general public to the assortment of animals of the Cenozoic, typically less represented in popular culture than the dinosaurs. Haines served as executive producer on the series, with James and Nigel Paterson producing and directing. Beasts was in terms of effects more challenging to produce than Dinosaurs, owing to mammals having features such as fur, whiskers, eyebrows and various floppy parts absent in dinosaurs, and to audiences being more familiar with how mammals move and act and thus better at spotting mistakes. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Walking_with_Spacemen_book_cover.png" caption="Space Odyssey]]'', initially intended to be part of the ''Walking with...'' franchise as "''Walking with Spacemen''""] ::

In late 2002 and early 2003, further special episodes of Dinosaurs were broadcast: Land of Giants and The Giant Claw. These specials starred wildlife presenter Nigel Marven as a "time-traveling zoologist". Marven's inclusion was mainly so that audiences would have a better understanding of the scale of the animals shown. While Haines, James and Impossible Pictures worked on Land of Giants and The Giant Claw, the BBC produced a further series without their involvement: Walking with Cavemen, also broadcast in 2003. Cavemen acted as a sequel to Beasts, exploring human evolution. The series was created by Richard Dale and Peter Georgi, both of whom had previously worked together on documentaries such as The Human Body, and starred Robert Winston as a presenter. The success of Land of Giants and The Giant Claw led to the creation of Sea Monsters, broadcast in 2003, a miniseries exploring the "seven deadliest seas of all time", once again starring Marven.

The series Space Odyssey (2004), produced by Haines and James at Impossible Pictures together with BBC Worldwide, the Discovery Channel and ProSieben, was originally going to be titled Walking with Spacemen. Both executives of the BBC and ProSieben heralded Walking with Spacemen as the logical next step in the series, following on from the journey began with Walking with Dinosaurs, Beasts and Cavemen. Space Odyssey used special effects and techniques from the Walking with... documentaries to speculate how astronauts may explore the various planets in the Solar System on crewed missions. Despite the title change, Space Odyssey has at times been referred to as Walking with Spacemen also after its release and the old title was used in some of the companion material, including as the title of the earliest editions of the companion book, co-authored by Haines and Christopher Riley.

Instead of a futuristic series, Haines and Impossible Pictures decided to round off the Walking with... series by making a programme on the before then largely underutilized Paleozoic era, set before the dinosaurs. Walking with Monsters, broadcast in 2005, utilized the most sophisticated effects of the entire franchise, owing to advancements in technology by the time of its production.

Framestore and Crawley Creatures returned to do the computer graphics and animatronics, respectively, for every successor series produced by Impossible Pictures. Walking with Cavemen which involved Framestore but not Crawley Creatures. Practical effects of Walking with Cavemen were done by several companies, including Altered States FX, Animated Extras and BGFX. After the release of Monsters, Impossible Pictures, Framestore and the others involved were effectively forced to move on from documentary filmmaking and produce other series like Primeval (2007–2011) due to companies and executives losing interest in funding fact-based documentaries on prehistoric life.

Original television series

::data[format=table title="''Walking with...'' original series"]

Series	Release date (UK)	Director(s)	Producer(s)	Episodes	Narrator (UK)	Composer	Walking with Dinosaurs	The Ballad of Big Al	Walking with Beasts	The Giant Claw / Land of Giants	Walking with Cavemen	Sea Monsters	Walking with Monsters	Walking with Dinosaurs
4 October – 8 November 1999	Tim Haines & Jasper James	John Lynch, Tim Haines & Jasper James	6	Kenneth Branagh	Ben Bartlett
25 December 2000	Kate Bartlett	Mick Kaczorowski, Tim Haines & Joshua C. Berkley	1
15 November – 20 December 2001	Jasper James & Nigel Paterson	Tim Haines, Jasper James & Nigel Paterson	6
30 December 2002 – 1 January 2003	Tim Haines & Jasper James	Tim Haines, Gaynelle Evans, Adam Kemp & Jasper James	2	Nigel Marven
27 March – 23 April 2003	Richard Dale	Richard Dale, Peter Georgi, Nick Green, Mark Hedgecoe & Peter Oxley	4	Robert Winston	Alan Parker
9–23 November 2003	Jasper James	Tim Haines, Adam Kemp & Jasper James	3	Karen Hayley	Ben Bartlett
5 November 2005	Chloe Leland	Tim Haines & Chloe Leland	3	Kenneth Branagh
25 May – 29 June 2025	Kirsty Wilson	Tom Hewitson, Stephen Cooter, & Owen Gower	6	Bertie Carvel	Ty Unwin
::

''Walking with Dinosaurs'' (1999)

''The Ballad of Big Al'' (2000)

Main article: The Ballad of Big Al

''Walking with Beasts'' (2001)

Main article: Walking with Beasts

''The Giant Claw / Land of Giants'' (2002–2003)

Main article: Land of Giants / The Giant Claw

''Walking with Cavemen'' (2003)

Main article: Walking with Cavemen

''Sea Monsters'' (2003)

Main article: Sea Monsters (TV series)

''Walking with Monsters'' (2005)

Main article: Walking with Monsters

''Walking with Dinosaurs'' (2025)

Main article: Walking with Dinosaurs (2025 TV series)

A revival of the franchise, the 2025 series recounts the stories of six individual dinosaurs. Each episode is divided between prehistoric segments of CGI animals set in live action landscapes, and modern day segments involving paleontologist activities at the dig sites where each dinosaur was discovered.

Reception

Accolades

::data[format=table title=""]

Award	Category	Walking with Dinosaurs	The Ballad of Big Al	Walking with Beasts	Land of Giants/The Giant Claw	Walking with Cavemen	Sea Monsters	Walking with Monsters
Annie Award	Technical Achievement in the Field of Animation
BAFTA TV Award	Outstanding Innovation
Best Original Television Music
Interactive Entertainment Award
Best Sound (Factual)
Best Visual Effects & Graphic Design
Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Animated Programme (One Hour or More)
Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special
Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie, or a Special
Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction Programming
Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction Programming - Sound Mixing
Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction Programming – Sound Editing
Outstanding Sound Editing for a Non-Fiction Program
Monitor Award	Film Originated Television Specials - 3D Animation
National Television Award	Most Popular Factual Programme
Online Film & Television Association Award	Best Visual Effects in a Series
Best Informational Special
Golden Laurel Award	Best Original Television Music
Peabody Award	Peabody Award
RTS Television Award	Design and Craft Innovation
Best Visual Effects - Digital Effects
Best Picture Manipulation
Multi-Media and Interactive
Best Presenter (Factual)
TV Quick Award	Best Factual Programme
TCA Award	Outstanding Achievement in News and Information
TRIC Award	Documentary Programme of the Year
Visual Effects Society Award	Outstanding Visual Effects in a Television Series
Young Artist Award	Best Educational TV Show or Series
::

Viewership

Walking with Dinosaurs was broadcast to record audiences in 1999 and is sometimes considered the biggest science documentary series ever created. With 15 million viewers viewing the first episode on 4 October 1999 and another 3.91 million viewing it on its repeat the Sunday afterwards, Walking with Dinosaurs is by far the most watched science programme in British television history. Viewership figures steadily declined for later series; the first airing of the first episode of Walking with Beasts in 2001 had around 8 million viewers and the first airing of the first episode of Walking with Monsters in 2005 attracted 4.57 million viewers.

The ratings shown below are 7-day data, including both the original airings of the episodes and their repeats some days later. There is only data for the top 30 programmes in terms of viewers; episodes labeled N/A failed to reach the top 30 programmes during their airings.

| title = Walking with... | country = UK | season_title = Series | color1 = #295354 | color2 = #D09916 | color3 = #54575A | color4 = #222222 | color5 = #68411C | color6 = #31485C | color7 = #091411 | color8 = #C6D9E4 | legend1 = Walking with Dinosaurs | legend2 = The Ballad of Big Al | legend3 = Walking with Beasts | legend4 = The Giant Claw & Land of Giants | legend5 = Walking with Cavemen | legend6 = Sea Monsters | legend7 = Walking with Monsters | legend8 = Walking with Dinosaurs (2025) | average = y | bar_width = 9 | x_intervals = 5 | y_intervals = 2

refs =
18.91
17.75
17.96
16.8
15.95
15.68
17.18
-
N/A
N/A
-
13.99
11.34
9.27
N/A
5.87
9.48
9.99
-
6.83
5.76
6.30
-
7.63
6.21
N/A
N/A
6.92
-
7.59
6.94
6.52
7.02
-
4.57
N/A
N/A
4.57
-
2.99
2.47
2.54
N/A
2.33
N/A
2.58

''Prehistoric Planet''

Prehistoric Planet is a revision of Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts, done by Discovery Channel and NBC for the Discovery Kids network in 2002–2003. Though the producers kept most of the original animation, David Bock and Peter Sherman wrote new text for a younger target audience, narrated by Ben Stiller (in Season 1) and Christian Slater (in Season 2), and interspersed the scenes with occasional quizzes to act as bumpers around the commercial breaks. New music was incorporated as well. Most marketing and advertising for the series focused on the dinosaur episodes. In addition, the final episode, Prehistoric Planet Top 10, focused solely on the creatures from Walking with Dinosaurs.

Books

Companion books

The first four Walking with... series were accompanied with companion books. These books were coffee table books exploring the settings from each series in detail, with scientific information, facts and narratives similar to those shown on screen. All of the books were lavishly illustrated with stills from the episodes. All of the Walking with... companion books were well received.

• Walking with Dinosaurs: A Natural History (1999), by Tim Haines
• Walking with Beasts: A Prehistoric Safari (2001), by Tim Haines
• Walking with Cavemen: Stand Eye-to-Eye with your Ancestors (2003), by John Lynch and Louise Barrett
• Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Predators of the Deep (2003), by Nigel Marven and Jasper James
• Walking with Dinosaurs (2025), by Andrew Cohen, Helen Thomas, and Kirsty Wilson

Other books

Walking with Monsters was not accompanied by a companion book, instead the series was in 2006 accompanied by the book The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life, an encyclopedia and reference work with images from the entire franchise, co-authored by Haines and Paul Chambers. In addition to the companion books and The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life, several other books have been released to accompany the different series. Walking with Dinosaurs was in addition to its companion book also accompanied by Walking with Dinosaurs: The Evidence (2000) by David Martill and Darren Naish and Walking with Dinosaurs: The Facts (2000) by Michael Benton, both books serving to corroborate the science behind the series. Among the various children's books that have been released alongside the Walking with... documentaries is a children's book adaptation of The Ballad of Big Al by Stephen Cole, titled Allosaurus! The Life and Death of Big Al, as well as 3D albums, sticker albums and photo journals for both Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts.

Electronic media

With the exception of Walking with Monsters, all of the Walking with... series launched with accompanying websites. The original 1999 Walking with Dinosaurs website was considered innovative for the time and included scientific information, fact files, glossaries, as well as games and puzzles. The content of the websites of following series was similar, offering both accompanying scientific information and games.

In addition to the games on the website, full Walking with... games have also been developed. The first such game was the freeware video game Dinosaur World, developed by Asylum Entertainment and published by the BBC Imagineering in June 2001. Dinosaur World is an adaptation of The Ballad of Big Al where players try to find various animals and plants. The game was never finished but could be downloaded from the BBC website in its alpha form. There was also a video game adaptation of Walking with Beasts, Walking with Beasts: Operation Salvage, developed by Absolute Studios and published by BBC Worldwide Ltd. in 2001. Operation Salvage is a top-down shooter where players travel back in time to observe animals and fight time-traveling enemies. Another Walking with Dinosaurs game was released in 2013, titled simply Walking with Dinosaurs, to accompany the film adaptation of the series released that year. Walking with Dinosaurs is an augmented reality game developed by Supermassive Games in collaboration with the BBC.

Notes

References

References

1. "The Making of…Walking with Dinosaurs".
2. "Summary".
3. (4 July 2001). "BBC "Making It Happen" Project Director Joins Speakers at CSR Forum".
4. "Greg Dyke Making It Happen".
5. (2018). "Connecting Taiwan: Participation – Integration – Impacts". Routledge.
6. "BBC - Worldwide Press Office - Walking with Spacemen".
7. (14 March 2022). "11 Must-Watch Dinosaur Movies That Aren't 'Jurassic Park'".
8. Calderaro, Marc. (31 July 2008). "Prehistoric Earth: A Natural History, PopMatters".
9. ''Walking with Monsters'' DVD - ''Trilogy of Life'' featurette
10. Støen, Michael. (2022). "1999: The BBC simulates prehistoric wildlife". Public Understanding of Science.
11. Naish, Darren. (4 July 2021). "Reminiscing About Walking With Dinosaurs, Part 2".
12. (19 December 2013). "Walking with Dinosaurs 3D". Animal Logic, BBC Earth MD (WWD), BBC Earth.
13. (May 19, 2025). "Walking With Dinosaurs - Everything you need to know about the new series".
14. "Most expensive television documentary series per minute".
15. Thussu, Daya Kishan. (2008). "News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment". SAGE.
16. "Impossible Pictures Appoints New Managing Director - UK Broadcast News {{!}} 23 November 2006".
17. "Walking with Dinosaurs".
18. (2002). "Tim Haines Production Interview". BBC.
19. (2001). "Making Of - TV Production". bbc.co.uk.
20. "The Giant Claw {{!}} Impossible Pictures".
21. (19 May 2014). "'Walking with Dinosaurs' - the Television Phenomenon".
22. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/03_march/12/cavemen.pdf ''Walking with Cavemen'' - BBC One Press Pack] (3 March 2003)
23. Kettlewell, Julianna. (7 November 2003). "Ancient sea monsters bite back". BBC News.
24. Meza, Ed. (27 March 2003). "ProSieben, Discovery 'Spacemen' in orbit".
25. (27 March 2003). "Blue plaques for film stars' seats". BBC News.
26. [https://www.amazon.in/Voyage-Planets-Beyond-Giles-Milton/dp/0756612659 ''Walking with Spacemen'' (2004) by Tim Haines and Christopher Riley]. ''[[Amazon (company). Amazon]]''. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
27. (2001). "Making Of - Computer Graphics". bbc.co.uk.
28. (2001). "Making Of - Animatronics". bbc.co.uk.
29. (15 February 2012). "Framestore CFC Makes Sea Monsters".
30. (24 May 2019). "Films, TV & Adverts".
31. (1 June 2016). "Walking With... Series".
32. Mike. (25 October 2010). "The People Behind Prehistoric Animal Animatronics and Puppetry".
33. "fantasy makeups {{!}} hominids and cavegirls {{!}} Suzanne Cave in 'Walking with Cavemen' {{!}} themakeupgallery".
34. Naish, Darren. (24 June 2021). "Reminiscing About Walking With Dinosaurs, Part 1".
35. (2003). "Unnatural History? Deconstructing the Walking with Dinosaurs Phenomenon". Media, Culture & Society.
36. (2010). "[[The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life]]". Firefly Books.
37. Benton, Michael J.. (2001). "The Science of ''Walking with Dinosaurs''". Teaching Earth Sciences.
38. (10 May 2006). "Planet Earth sees off CGI".
39. "Weekly top 30 programmes on TV sets (July 1998 – Sept 2018) | BARB".
40. "Weekly Top 50 Programmes". [[Barb Audiences]].
41. "Prehistoric Planet". TV Time.
42. (1 March 2000). "Nonfiction Book Review: Walking with Dinosaurs: A Natural History by Tim Haines".
43. (1 November 2001). "Nonfiction Book Review: Walking with Prehistoric Beasts by Tim Haines".
44. (2003). "Nonfiction Book Review: WALKING WITH CAVEMEN".
45. Sellers, LaRue. (2004). "Chased by Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Predators of the Deep". The Science Teacher.
46. "BBC Walking With Dinosaurs".
47. Palmer, Douglas. (5 October 2005). "Book Review: Myriad monsters".
48. (2002). "Children's Books: Pleasure Reading". The Reading Teacher.
49. (16 December 2001). "BBC - Science - Beasts".
50. "BBC - Science & Nature - Sea Monsters".
51. (5 October 2001). "65 Million Years of Strategy".
52. (31 October 2013). "Wonderbook gets more Harry Potter, dinosaurs, detectives on Nov. 12". Joystiq.

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