Attenborough And The Giant Sea Monster | Preview (BBC One)

150 million years ago, dinosaurs ruled the land, but the oceans were dominated by a mysterious sea monster. Meet the pliosaur, the Tyrannosaurus rex of the seas! Now, a giant skull has been found in the cliffs of Dorset...

Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster follows Sir David Attenborough as he investigates the discovery of a lifetime.

He’s joining two of the UK’s most intrepid fossil hunters on their perilous expedition to excavate the skull from its resting place 12 metres up in the cliff face. David’s been an avid fossil collector since he was a young boy, but he has never come across a find quite like this.

To help unravel the skull’s mysteries, an international team of scientists and palaeontologists search for clues about how this fearsome beast not only looked but how it behaved, and the strategies it used to hunt its prey.

Cutting-edge visual effects sequences bring the sea monster to life, showcasing its astonishing size – thought to be an incredible 12 metres long - and its phenomenal strength. A momentous new discovery, scientists now believe this could be a completely new species of pliosaur.

Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster will combine ground-breaking science, fascinating natural history with gripping storytelling, and state-of-the-art CGI to explore the tale of the most formidable predator of the Jurassic world…one that hunted in the seas just off the coast of Britain!

Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster airs New Year's Day on BBC One.