Prehistoric Park
Prehistoric Park is a six-part docu-fiction television mini-series that premiered on ITV on 22 July 2006 and on Animal Planet on 29 October 2006. The programme was produced by Impossible Pictures, who also created Walking with Dinosaurs. Each episode is an hour long including commercial breaks. Repeats of the show are broadcast in the UK on Watch.
| Prehistoric Park | |
|---|---|
 Title card | |
| Genre | Science fiction Docu-fiction |
| Starring | Nigel Marven |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 48 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Impossible Pictures |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV Animal Planet National Geographic |
| Original release | 22 July – 26 August 2006 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Primeval Chased by Dinosaurs Sea Monsters Walking with Dinosaurs |
The programme is narrated by David Jason and presented by Nigel Marven. The fictional component is the theme that Nigel goes back to various geological time periods through a space-time portal, and brings live specimens of extinct animals back to the present day, where they are exhibited in a wildlife park named Prehistoric Park, which is a big area between high steep mountains and ocean, with varied environments, in what looks like KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa.
Story
The story, which is told in the style of a documentary, focuses on naturalist Nigel Marven leading missions to find and collect extinct animals from the distant past by use of a time machine. The animals are then placed in the confines of Prehistoric Park, a private wildlife park that is situated in a dry, mountainous region of an unspecified part of the world. Marven's core motivation in the series is to defy extinction and to give select extinct species a second chance at life.
Characters
- Nigel Marven as himself, the main presenter of the show.
- Rod Arthur as Bob, the long-suffering head keeper at the park. In charge of feeding, cleaning and controlling the animals in the park.
- Suzanne McNabb as herself, the head veterinarian. Responsible for treating animals when they're sick or injured.
- Morgan Williams as Ben, one of Nigel's crew. Four Mei long attacked him for meat in his backpack. Introduced in episode 3.
- Saba Douglas-Hamilton as herself, a big cat specialist, whom Nigel invites back to catch Smilodon in episode 4.
Locations within the park
When the animals are brought back to the park, they are placed into a nearby enclosure. The enclosures are named after the extinct animals that they are housing.
- Mammoth Mount: This enclosure houses the park's woolly mammoth Martha.
- T-Rex Hill: T-Rex Hill is home to the park's pair of Tyrannosaurus rex, Terence and Matilda.
- Big Cat Climb: This two part enclosure features a pair of breeding sabre-tooth cats.
- Triceratops Creek: Theo is the resident Triceratops at Triceratops Creek.
- Deinosuchus Dip: This is a huge lake, where the park's Deinosuchus is kept.
- Ornithomimus Pond: This paddock features a herd of Ornithomimus.
- The Bug House: This state of the art enclosure keeps its Carboniferous period creatures safe. Its oxygen levels inside are double what they are today, and this keeps the Arthropleura, Meganeura and Pulmonoscorpius happy.
Episodes
| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series premiere | Series finale | |||
| 1 | 6 | 22 July 2006 | 26 August 2006 | |
Filming locations
| Episode | Where set | Where filmed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montana, United States | The Andean national parks of Chile where there are plenty of Araucaria and Nothofagus trees |
| 2 | Siberia | The Yukon in Canada |
| 3 | China | Rotorua, New Zealand, in the Redwood, Ohakuri, and Tikitere forests |
| 4 | South America | Dry grassland near Brasilia in Brazil |
| 5 | Coal forest in Scotland | Swamp forest in southern Florida, but some of the vegetation was CGI |
| 6 | Texas, United States | The freshwater lakes of Fraser Island, Australia |
DVD
- The Region 1 DVD was released on 5 June 2007 by BCI Eclipse, under license from Fremantle Media.
- The Region 2 DVD was released in Britain on 28 August 2006 by Fremantle Media.[1]
- The Region 4 DVD was released in Australia and surrounding islands on 6 October 2006. Charles Wooley narrated the series when broadcast on Australia's Nine Network, and the Region 4 DVD has the original narration by David Jason.
- The Region 3 DVD was released in Indonesia by Medialine Entertainment.
See also
External links
- Prehistoric Park at itv.com/citv (including episode guide and images)
- Animal Planet - Prehistoric Park
- Impossible Pictures minisite
- Nigel Marven's production photos
- Prehistoric Park on IMDb
- Prehistoric Park at TV.com