| Walking with Beasts | |
|---|---|
 Cover of the original UK DVD release | |
| Also known as | Walking with Prehistoric Beasts |
| Genre | Nature documentary |
| Created by | Tim Haines Jasper James Andrew Wilks |
| Directed by | Jasper James Nigel Paterson |
| Narrated by | Kenneth Branagh Stockard Channing (US) Christian Slater (Prehistoric Planet) |
| Composer | Ben Bartlett |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Tim Haines |
| Producers | Jasper James Nigel Paterson |
| Cinematography | John Howarth Michael Pitts |
| Editors | Greg Smith Andrew Wilks |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | BBC Science Unit Impossible Pictures |
| Budget | £4.2 million[1][a] |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC, Discovery Channel, ProSieben, TV Asahi |
| Release | 15 November – 20 December 2001 |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Walking with Beasts, marketed as Walking with Prehistoric Beasts in North America, is a 2001 six-part nature documentary television miniseries created by Impossible Pictures and produced by the BBC Science Unit,[4] the Discovery Channel, ProSieben and TV Asahi. The sequel to the 1999 miniseries Walking with Dinosaurs,[5][1] Walking with Beasts explores the life in the Cenozoic era, after the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs, particularly focusing on the rise of the mammals to dominance. The UK version of the series is narrated by Kenneth Branagh, who also narrated Walking with Dinosaurs, and the US version is narrated by Stockard Channing.
Like Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Beasts recreated extinct animals through a combination of computer-generated imagery and animatronics, incorporated into live action footage shot at various locations. It was more challenging to create convincing effects, both computer graphics and animatronics, depicting mammals owing both to fur and more moving bits and to audiences being more familiar with how mammals look and move than they were with dinosaurs. The visual effects of Walking with Beasts, like those of Walking with Dinosaurs, received praise. The series won numerous awards, including a BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award, a Monitor Award, a RTS Television Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Walking with Beasts was accompanied by a companion book, Walking with Beasts: A Prehistoric Safari, written by the executive producer Tim Haines, and a two-part behind-the-scenes companion series, The Science of Walking with Beasts. Also released were several children's books and the video game Walking with Beasts: Operation Salvage. In 2007–2011 an exhibition based on the series featuring fossils, life-sized models and behind-the-scenes information was held at different locations throughout the UK.
- ^ a b "A beastly look at ourselves". McGill Reporter. 22 November 2001. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
- ^ a b Walking with Monsters DVD - Trilogy of Life featurette
- ^ "Most expensive television documentary series per minute". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
- ^ Støen, Michael (2022). "1999: The BBC simulates prehistoric wildlife". Public Understanding of Science. 31 (4): 524–529. doi:10.1177/09636625211068944. ISSN 0963-6625. PMID 35062833. S2CID 246165620.
- ^ Gibson, Owen (9 October 2001). "Digital evolution for BBC Beasts". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
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