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Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones

Apple TV+, 23 May

ANY nature documentary that includes David Attenborough is bound to be elevated by his insight and the gravitas of his dulcet tones. But the look of genuine glee etched across his face in Prehistoric Planet is so palpable, you can’t help but feel that it will be a particularly astounding addition to this beloved genre.

Attenborough opens each of the five episodes standing in front of a huge skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex, asserting that dinosaurs are the most remarkable animals that ever existed. They spark the imagination in us all, he declares, and teases that Prehistoric Planet will show viewers exactly what kind of creatures they were.

What is remarkable is that the show really delivers on Attenborough’s promise, using a mixture of research, technology, awe-inspiring nature shots and emotional storytelling to reveal what dinosaurs looked like and how they lived.

Each episode focuses on a different habitat, starting off with the coasts, moving to fresh water, deserts, ice worlds and then forests. Unsurprisingly, it opens with that ultra-famous T. rex, but this time, the creature and her family are in the unusual position of swimming to a small island, after smelling the rotting carcass of a 2-tonne turtle that she hopes will be her next meal. Unluckily for her, a mosasaur, the most dominant marine predator of the Cretaceous period, starts to give chase.

Prehistoric Planet’s most astounding episode revolves around the ice worlds, at the far north and south of Earth during this period. After three months of near-total darkness, the dinosaurs that colonised the polar regions used the spring and summer to hunt before the long, harsh winter.

One of the most intense sequences in the show sees a group of Dromaeosaurus, Arctic dinosaurs in the same family as velociraptor, attacking a herd of Hadrosaurus as they try to cross a rapidly melting frozen river. This scene is only rivalled by the coming together of three Nanuqsaurus, smaller relatives of T. rex, with a group of herbivorous Pachyrhinosaurus. Their strategic fights could last for days, especially when a blizzard hit.

Prehistoric Planet is the latest dinosaur documentary produced by the BBC’s Natural History Unit, including Walking with Dinosaurs (1999), Planet Dinosaur (2011) and last month’s Dinosaurs: The Final Day with David Attenborough. The most recent documentaries show just how realistic and seamless visual effects have become: you really feel that you are watching these incredible creatures as they roam the earth.

Rather than constantly trying to astound and entertain with action shots and set pieces, Prehistoric Planet’s directors – Adam Valdez and Andrew R. Jones – build an emotional connection between the audience and the ancient fauna. They manage this by focusing on the minute behavioural detail and playful movements of the dinosaurs and the other organisms in their world. We see a pterosaur learning to fly, a velociraptor hunt with stealth and agility on a cliff edge and ammonites light up the ocean with bioluminescence under a full moon. Even the sight of Deinocheirus defecating seems oddly important and integral to the prehistoric ecosystem.

It’s likely that executive producer Jon Favreau played a role in the addition of these characterisations, all of which help make the dinosaurs feel more real. Favreau, who directed some of the most popular movies of the last decade, previously worked with Moving Picture Company (the visual effects company behind the show) on The Jungle Book and The Lion King remakes.

Favreau isn’t the only major Hollywood talent involved. Legendary composer Hans Zimmer also works his magic, creating a score that adds subtle majesty and drama to the series, without being overbearing.

That collaborative approach is exactly what makes this programme such a revelation. Everyone, from the scientific researchers to the visual effects artists, knows that the dinosaurs are the real stars: they do such an amazing job of bringing them back to life that the documentary feels like it belongs in schools and museums.

Gregory Wakeman is a film critic and writer based in Los Angeles, California