Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster

Name: Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2024-01-01
Duration: 1 h
Rating: 7.4
Cast: David Attenborough, Luke Muscutt, Emily Rayfield

TV Special
2024
1h

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

179

YOUR RATING

Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster (2024)

Nature Documentary Documentary

Sir David Attenborough investigates the discovery of a lifetime: the giant skull of a prehistoric sea monster, known as a pliosaur - the Tyrannosaurus rex of the seas.Sir David Attenborough investigates the discovery of a lifetime: the giant skull of a prehistoric sea monster, known as a pliosaur - the Tyrannosaurus rex of the seas.Sir David Attenborough investigates the discovery of a lifetime: the giant skull of a prehistoric sea monster, known as a pliosaur - the Tyrannosaurus rex of the seas.

Director
- Victoria Bobin
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

179

YOUR RATING

Director
- Victoria Bobin
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
The pliosaur skull whose excavation and analysis is the subject of the documentary was discovered by Philip Jacobs, an artist and textile designer who has also been an avid fossil hunter for 40 years. After spotting the fossil, Jacobs sought out his friend and fossil expert, Steve Etches to find the rest of the skull and proceed to the difficult extraction of the giant. The discovery has attracted scientists from around the world which led to the filming of this documentary. For the documentary Jacobs provided video footage of the moment the fossil was discovered and he was interviewed by the BBC but although his name appeared in the ending credits, he was only referred to as a "fossil enthusiast" during the film. Following the airing of the documentary, he received support from palaeontologists and archaeologists and a petition calling for greater recognition for him was launched.

User reviews2

Review

Featured review

7/10

"Quite a big boy and that's just the skull"

Old Attenborough continues to lumber onward like a living fossil (which isn't an insult given how much he loves a fossil) and in the festive period of 2023-2024 we got this documentary about the logistics surrounding the retrieval of a colossal pliosaur skull sticking halfway out of a Dorset cliff-face. The real stars here aren't the twinkly-eyed Attenborough full of boyish joy for the act of discovery but the bizarrely bantering fossilmen Etches & Moore whose job it is to scale down the cliff and get at the skull. The subsequent scans and explorations of the find are genuinely fascinating and there's a nice driving focus throughout that I wasn't expecting. Bonetacular. Bonetastic.