Latest news with #BertieCarvel
Daily Mail
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Walking With Dinosaurs viewers blast BBC for 'ruining' reboot with big change after 26 years of waiting - boycotting series and fuming 'what have they done?!'
66 million years after their departure from Earth, the world of Dinosaurs was revived on our screens in 1999, with the BBC 's iconic docuseries Walking With Dinosaurs. The Primetime Emmy and BAFTA-winning series hit the small screen with an asteroid-like impact. It showcased the natural prehistoric world as we had never seen it before - one of the most credible and accurate depictions of dinosaur life ever produced. So, when the BBC announced that it would be rebooting the beloved series, an understandable ripple of excitement spread throughout fans across the UK. The first instalment of the eagerly awaited six-parter aired on BBC One last night, and followed the story of a young triceratops, Clover, who must learn to outwit a deadly T-Rex in order to survive. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. The inquisitive little reptile navigates a verdant prehistoric Montana, coming face to face with both friend and foe along the way. Mimicking its source material, the 2025 Walking with Dinosaurs follows an anthological story format, exploring a different story of a different dinosaur each episode. Taking over from Kenneth Branagh, the celebrated narrator of the original series, Bertie Carvel (best known for playing Tony Blair on The Crown) is the voice of 2025's Walking with Dinosaurs, recounting the events of Clover's story as we see them on screen. However, an unwelcome series of interruptions to the story have caused unease amongst fans. The narratives explored in the show are not only those of dinosaurs, but also the human palaeontologists who discover their bones, millions of years in the future. This contrast to the original show has been upsetting for viewers, who feel that the inclusion of humans in the franchise subtracts from its fantastical appeal. As well as this, they complained that the shots of archaeological exhumations are disjointed with the dinosaur visuals, and the show isn't woven together effectively. 'The paleontological scenes aren't implemented well', wrote a viewer on X, 'They're largely used to explain simple things…and interrupt the story every time a scene happens. I don't enjoy this format at all.' 'Disappointed with the new Walking with Dinosaurs. It's not WWD for me. The BBC are just using the name to get views.' 'The constant switching between the past and future ruins this for me. The original Walking with Dinosaurs never did this and was part of the reason why it was so successful…We want dinosaurs, not people.' However, others take a more positive outlook on the excavation site scenes, suggesting that the mistake made by producers was the use of the Walking With Dinosaurs name that sets an inimitable expectation of the series. 'The scenes on the modern digsites add quite a bit! Although I do feel like its doing its own thing? Maybe naming it Walking With Dinosaurs wasn't the best move' The 1999 series boasted 15 million viewers on its first episode and holds the record of the most expensive documentary series ever made, costing a staggering £37,654 per minute to produce. 'A whole new generation of viewers is about to fall in love with Walking With Dinosaurs,' announced the BBC's head of commission. 'The original series was one of the most exciting factual shows of all time, and this reinvention builds on that amazing legacy.' Episodes to come are set to include tales of the deadly Spinosaurus, in the rivers of Morocco and the gargantuan Lusotitan living on a Portugese island, but will fans be able to see past the series' shocking new structure? Walking With Dinosaurs airs on Sundays at 6:25pm on BBC One, and all episodes are now available to stream on iPlayer.
Irish Times
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
TV guide: Bono: Stories of Surrender, And Just Like That, and the other best new things to watch this week
Pick of the week Walking with Dinosaurs Sunday, BBC One, 6.25pm When Walking with Dinosaurs launched its first series back in 1999, we gasped at the special effects, which made it look like a cross between Jurassic Park and David Attenborough's Life on Earth. More than 25 years later, we don't bat an eyelid at eye-popping special effects, but the BBC promises that this reboot will blow our highly evolved minds. The actor Bertie Carvel narrates this new six-part series, and each episode will focus on an individual dinosaur, using fossil remains to build up its life story. Science has come so far that we now have much more accurate data on dinosaurs' lives, and this will be reflected in the details in this new series. Among the dinosaurs we'll encounter are the Albertosaurus, which, despite its benign-sounding name, is an equally ferocious cousin of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Then we'll meet one of the Jurassic era's biggest headbangers: the Pachyrhinosaurus, a close relative of Triceratops, which battles other males by headbutting them with their 'boss' – a thick slab of bone covered in keratin over its nose. Highlights Death Valley Sunday, BBC One, 8.15pm Death Valley: Timothy Spall and Janie Mallowan. Photograph: Jay Brooks/BBC Studios/BBC Who'd be the last person you'd ask to help you solve a murder? Certainly not the retired actor who played your favourite TV detective, and who now lives just down the road from the victim. Detective sergeant Janie Mallowan is investigating the death of a property developer in rural Wales, and finds help in the unlikely form of retired John Chapel, famous for his role as Inspector Charles Caesar in a hit TV series. Chapel can certainly act, but can he solve crimes? We'll soon find out as this odd cop-thesp partnership delves into the apparent suicide of wealthy developer Carwyn Rees – and finds a lot of buried secrets. Timothy Spall plays the reclusive Chapel, with Gwyneth Keyworth as DS Mallowan, and we're sure to get a few glimpses into the cop show within a cop show featuring Inspector Caesar. Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius Monday, BBC Two, 9pm Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius - Emöke Zsigmond. Photograph: Balazs Glodi/72 Films/BBC In the tiny English village of Steventon in Hampshire in the late 18th century, no one would have believed that the vicar's teenage daughter would become hailed as one of the greatest novelists of all time. Jane Austen was one of a large family, but she soon established her own identity through her short stories inspired by her siblings and cousins. The young Jane also found inspiration from her father's library of 500 books, which opened her eyes and imagination to the wider world. This three-part documentary looks at how events in Austen's life – including the death of a suitor – fed into such novels as Pride and Prejudice, and Persuasion, and how, unlike her heroines in search of the perfect marriage, she chose independence, turning down a marriage proposal to concentrate on her craft. The Rise and Fall of Michelle Mone Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm The Rise and Fall of Michelle Mone: Mone in her Baroness robes. Photograph: Alamy/Rogan Productions/BBC This three-part series tells the intriguing story of Michelle Mone's rise from growing up in working-class Glasgow to running her own successful fashion business to her elevation into the House of Lords. Along the way, Lady Michelle Mone has stirred up a rivalry between two of pop star Rod Stewart's wives, and become embroiled in scandal over a PPE contract during the Covid-19 pandemic. The first programme tells how Mone began her career as a model and ring girl at boxing matches, then formed her own lingerie company, launching the Ultimo push-up bra which became hugely popular in the cleavage-obsessed lad culture of the 1990s. She got up Rod Stewart's nose by firing his wife, Penny Lancaster, as the face of Ultimo and replacing her with Stewart's ex-wife Rachel Hunter, but it was the PPE scandal of the early 2020s that put her in the news, when questions were asked about her links to a business that bagged a 'VIP fast lane' PPE contract. READ MORE Uncharted with Ray Goggins Wednesday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm Ellen Keane and Ashling Thompson in Uncharted with Ray Goggins So far in this new series, former Special Forces professional Ray Goggins has brought Lyra and Leo Varadkar close to breaking point climbing a vertiginous waterfall, and caused Kneecap to nearly buckle under the pressure on an Arctic expedition. This week he takes Paralympic gold medallist Ellen Keane and All-Ireland camogie winner Ashling Thompson on the aptly named Death Road, a perilous trek deep into the wilds of Bolivia, which will take them high up the Andes mountains and across snow fields, ice walls and glaciers. But this time it's Goggins who seems to be having the most difficulty, developing a rasping cough at high altitude. Can he lead his charges on the 6,000m-plus trek to the peak of Huayna Potosi? Bloom Thursday, RTÉ One, 7pm It's Bloom day once again as Ireland's popular horticultural festival kicks off in Dublin's Phoenix Park, with garden designers displaying their amazing creations over the bank holiday weekend and hoping to collect that coveted gold medal for the most spectacular show garden. Áine Lawlor and Marty Morrissey are back to present this year's coverage of Bloom, with Lawlor meeting the talented gardeners who have created stunning spaces for the delight and delectation of the crowd flocking to this year's event. Meanwhile, Morrissey will mingle inconspicuously through the crowds (yeah, right) and visit the food village to get a taste of what foodie treats are on offer. We'll also get a good look at the colourful contenders in the Floral Art Competition. And Just Like That… Friday, Sky Comedy & Now, 9pm And Just Like That… Put on your strappy Louboutins and grab your Bottega Veneta handbag – we're sashaying back into the Sexoverse via the third series of the Sex and the City spinoff. SATC followed the adventures of four fashion-forward New York women in their 30s; And Just Like That… revisits Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda as they navigate the even trickier relationship terrain of their 50s. But there's disappointment in store for fans: Kim Cattrall, who played the sexually voracious Samantha in SATC, got fans' hopes up that she would finally join the show when she made a cameo appearance in the last series, but it turns out she was only teasing. Never mind – Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristen Davis and Cynthia Nixon are all blinged up and ready for some more cosmopolitan comedy, and they'll be joined by new cast member Rosie O'Donnell as Mary. The Power of Parker Friday, BBC One, 9.30pm The Power of Parker: Conleth Hill. Photograph: BBC/Boffola Pictures/Lookout Point Conleth Hill returns as the suave, self-centred electrical goods entrepreneur Martin Parker in this second series of the comedy set in Stockport in the 1990s. Martin is the Swiss Tony of home electronics, convinced of his unerring sales acumen and his irresistibility to women. He's juggling his marriage to Diane (Rosie Cavaliero) and his long-term affair with her sister Kath (Sian Gibson), and making a bit of a balls of it. Series one tracked Martin's downward trajectory as the two women in his life team up to give him his comeuppance. Series two begins in 1992, the queen's 'annus horribilis', when the air is filled with the inescapable strains of Whitney Houston's endless number one hit I Will Always Love You. Diane is now running Parker's electrical shop, having executed a hostile takeover, and Martin has no choice but to apply for a menial job. Meanwhile, the store is up for a gong in the highly prestigious Stockport Trade Awards – the Oscars for local salespeople – but the big awards night turns out very differently for all concerned. Streaming The Better Sister From Thursday, May 29th, Prime Video The Better Sister: Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks star as estranged sisters Chloe and Nicky in this twisty, thrilling whodunit based on the 2019 novel by Alafair Burke. Chloe has the charmed life, married to a handsome, successful lawyer (Corey Stoll) and working in a high-flying media job. Nicky has been dealt a bad hand: she's an addict who is just barely holding it together. The siblings are brought together by an unlikely event: the brutal murder of Chloe's husband. The sisters must find common ground if they are to learn the truth about Adam's murder, but soon long-buried family secrets come to the surface that test the sisters' loyalties. Dept Q From Thursday, May 29th, Netflix Dept Q: Matthew Goode. Photograph: Jamie Simpson/Netflix Don't be fooled by the cool-sounding name: Department Q is where cops' careers go to die, and it's where DCI Carl Morck ends up following a botched operation that has left one officer dead and another paralysed. Morck is banished to the titular section of the Edinburgh police, a cold-case unit of which he is the sole member, and where his colleagues no longer have to put up with his cutting sarcasm. But rather than sit in the basement and rot, Morck gathers a motley crew of castaway cops, and Department Q soon becomes a force to be reckoned with. So: a sort of police version of Slow Horses, with Morck in the Jackson Lamb lounger, getting up the noses of his superiors and getting the job done. Matthew Goode stars as Morck, with Kelly Macdonald, Mark Bonnar and Chloe Pirrie among the cast. Bono: Stories of Surrender From Friday, May 30th, Apple TV+ Bono in Bono: Stories of Surrender. Photograph: Apple TV+ The U2 frontman's bestselling memoir , from 2022, has since grown legs and travelled across Europe and the United States in the form of a one-man show featuring storytelling, readings and renditions of the Irish band's best-known tunes. Now comes the Apple TV+ film, which takes us deeper into Bono's world and features exclusive footage from the stage tour along with insights into Bono's family, friends and faith, and candid stories from his remarkable life and career as a singer and activist. The film will feature unique versions of U2 songs, with Bono accompanied by the DJ and producer Jacknife Lee, the cellist Kate Ellis and the musician and composer Gemma Doherty.
Metro
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Groundbreaking BBC show returns to TV this month after 26 years
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video More than a quarter of a century after it first stomped across our TV screens, Walking With Dinosaurs is now just days away from returning. Each of the new six episodes will focus on the dramatic story of an individual dinosaur whose remains are currently being unearthed by the world's leading dinosaur hunters. These include a Spinosaurus, the largest carnivorous dinosaur to ever walk the earth, roaming the rivers of ancient Morocco; a youthful Triceratops battling a ravenous T. rex in North America; and a lonely giant Lusotitan risking it all for love in Portugal. The rebooted Walking With Dinosaurs begins on Sunday, May 25 at 6:25pm on BBC One and iPlayer, 26 years after the original series launched in 1999. It will be narrated by British actor Bertie Carvel, 47, best known for his roles in Doctor Foster, Dalgliesh and The Crown. Walking With Dinosaurs was previously voiced by Sir Kenneth Branagh. Jack Bootle, BBC head of commission for specialist factual, said: 'A whole new generation of viewers is about to fall in love with Walking With Dinosaurs. 'The original series was one of the most exciting factual shows of all time, and this reinvention builds on that amazing legacy. 'Each episode is underpinned by the very latest science but is also filled with drama – making this a series for both dino lovers and people who just want to be told a great story.' Viewers have welcomed Walking With Dinosaurs' return on social media. On X, Rachel Charlton-Dailey enthused: '10-year-old me is screaming (35-year-old me is also screaming).' Echoing their sentiment, user KeyFeathers raved: 'I am so excited for this. Walking With Dinosaurs was one of those shows I would watch on repeat forever. It really got me hooked on dinosaurs for good.' Kirsty Wallace added: 'Oh I loved this – can't wait to meet the new dinos and all the new evidence of how Dinos looked. This is what the BBC is so good at.' The 1999 series was watched by 15 million viewers in the UK, cementing it as one of the most-watched science programmes on British TV in the 20th century. Walking With Dinosaurs cost £6.1 million to produce, equating to £37,654 per minute, making it the most expensive documentary series per minute ever made. It also won numerous awards, including two Baftas, three Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. More Trending The show's success spawned a documentary franchise, which included shows like Walking With Beasts and Walking With Cavemen. Speaking about the Walking With Dinosaurs reboot, Sylvia Bugg, PBS Chief Programming Executive and General Manager for General Audience Programming, added: 'Our human fascination with dinosaurs has remained steadfast, and we are excited to bring PBS audiences this reimagined perspective on these dynamic creatures, combining engaging narratives, backed by the latest science.' View More » Walking With Dinosaurs returns on Sunday May 25 at 6:25pm on BBC One and iPlayer. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Eurovision fans 'beg' Rylan and Scott Mills to stop an annoying habit MORE: Strictly star 'suing producers over alleged medical negligence after agonising injury' MORE: Doctor Who fans are worried about Eurovision episode – but not for reasons you'd expect
Daily Mirror
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Popular BBC show makes epic return to screens after being off-air for 25 years
The BBC will be bringing back a popular sci-fi series after the original show was archived for more than two and half decades. Twenty-five years ago, Walking With Dinosaurs first mesmerized audiences, offering a glimpse into the lives of the species that once ruled the Earth before facing extinction. Thanks to cutting-edge technology and groundbreaking science, experts are now able to delve deeper into the secrets of these prehistoric creatures. The iconic series is set to return to BBC One, 25 years after its initial release, much to the delight of fans. This revamped version promises to captivate audiences once again with fresh insights into the lives of dinosaurs, including their habits, hunting tactics, battles, and final moments, all revealed with unprecedented precision. The series, narrated by Bertie Carvel, will follow the stories of six unique dinosaurs, starting on Sunday, May 25 at 6:25 pm on BBC One and iPlayer, reports Surrey Live. On his new role, Bertie expressed his excitement, saying: "I am beyond thrilled to be a part of this exciting new reimagining of Walking with Dinosaurs. "The BBC is a world leader in creating groundbreaking and innovative science programming which I've admired all my life, so I'm incredibly excited to be a part of the team bringing the stories of these prehistoric creatures to life." The story thrillingly unfolds with the tale of a massive Spinosaurus, known as the chunkiest carnivorous dinosaur, facing off against a young Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex in North America while a giant Lusotitan endures the trials of love in Portugal. Once more, scientific revelations enable experts to shed light on the lives and demises of dinosaurs with unmatched precision. Combining enthralling narratives and state-of-the-art visual magic, this spectacle is set to ignite viewer's' curiosity like never before. Jack Bootle, BBC's senior head of specialist factual commissioning, said: "This series shows how dinosaurs really lived - and the true story is more dramatic, intense, and surprising than anything Hollywood could dream up. Using the latest science and stunning visuals, we're bringing their world to life like never before." Echoing the excitement, Andrew Cohen, executive producer at the BBC Studios Science Unit, enthused: "We are incredibly excited to be bringing Walking with Dinosaurs to a whole new generation of audiences around the world. "Brought to life with the very latest cutting-edge science, world-class VFX and the world's best science storytellers, this is the ultimate dinosaur show." Walking with Dinosaurs begins on Sunday, May 25 at 6:25pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
BBC News
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Walking With Dinosaurs: New trailer and narrator announced
The trailer for the brand new series of Walking With Dinosaurs has just been released, which sees the prehistoric world brought to life again. The show blends real-life historical discoveries with computer generated footage of dinosaurs as they would have lived millions of years makers say episodes will take viewers from the science behind dinosaur fossils to the dramatic scenes when they roamed the With Dinosaurs will be released this year on BBC One and iPlayer. The new series comes more than 25 years since the very first episode of the show, and will tell the story of six dinosaurs, including:The Spinosaurus, the largest ever meat-eating dinosaur to walk the earth A Triceratops battling a giant Lusotitan in love in Portugal The team behind Walking With Dinosaurs have announced that British actor Bertie Carvel will be the narrator for the new series, guiding viewers through each of the six prehistoric has won an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role playing Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical on the West End. Walking With Dinosaurs was first shown back in 1999, and inspired a series of programmes that used visual effects to tell the story of our history, including Walking With Beasts, Walking With Cavemen and Walking With Monsters.
