Secrets of the Jurassic Dinosaurs
Evaluation: 
The gold
Evaluation:
Typical, isn’t it? You wait 66 million years for an original idea about dinosaurs, and then the same one comes up twice.
Former Microsoft Chief Technical Officer, Dr. Nathan Myhrvold, Stephen Fry said on Channel 5 last week that Diplodocus, the largest land creature that has ever lived, can whip its tail like a bullwhip.
This week, Dr. Nathan the identical theory Liz Bonnin in Secrets Of The Jurassic Dinosaurs (BBC2). The sound, loud as a battleship’s cannon, could be heard for miles, he claimed, and was likely a mating signal. I wouldn’t be surprised if he shows up at the antiques road show next week still parading his Whippy-Dippy with a miniature metal model.
That’s the problem with the plethora of dino documentaries on TV. While discoveries happen quickly on a scientific timescale, it’s not fast enough to earn new shows every Sunday.
This week, Dr. Nathan the identical theory Liz Bonnin about Secrets Of The Jurassic Dinosaurs (BBC2).
And although the computer graphics are impressive at first sight, they quickly start to look petrified.
Dinosaurs starring Stephen Fry was newsworthy, putting the presenter in a landscape of sauropods and birds of prey as if he were walking through a Jurassic jungle.
When the Beeb did it a week later, it took something special to pique our interest. Liz did her best, filling a plastic tub with compost to demonstrate how a Diplodocus stomach worked and fermented “hot, nutritious soup.”
But anyone with a compost pile has seen this before. As a spectacle, it was less interesting than a giant tortoise eating a carrot – a sight Liz traveled to the St. Louis Zoo to witness for herself.
This program appeared to have a bigger budget than the Fry affair. It allowed Liz to leave the studio and visit a dinosaur dig in Wyoming.
A dusty brown ridge of dry water beds, the Jurassic Mile is “a world-class dinosaur cemetery,” she said.
She showed genuine scientific delight when she arrived at the on-site parking lot to “find lumps of rock right next to my car door with labels and serial numbers on them!” Be still, my dizzy heart.
We learned a lot of paleontological trivia: dinosaurs could catch some kind of bird flu; Fossils and rocks sound different when tapped with a knife; Diplodocus could run at 15 mph; Monkey Puzzle Trees have been around for 150 million years.
“But anyone who has a compost heap has seen this before. As a spectacle, it was less interesting than a giant tortoise eating a carrot.
But the only detail that caught my attention was that fossils stick to your tongue when you lick them due to the pores in the bone. Who was the first scientist to slurp up a dinosaur skeleton, I wonder?
The flying squad dinosaurs in The Gold (BBC1) seem confused as to what era they are in, or at least what decade.
Their 1980s cars are authentic enough, but some of the office equipment in the police shop feels futuristic.
Did the police really use fax machines in 1983? And whiteboards with magnetic buttons and erasable marker pens? I’m guessing photocopies and good old thumbtacks were still around back then.
This retelling of the hunt for the Brink’s Mat gold is still on the hunt for its narrative of class inequality, illustrated through private education and rhyming slang.
“People like us have to fight twice as hard to get anything in this world,” explained Kenneth Noye (Jack Lowden), who might feel more at home on a soapbox on Hyde Park Corner.
Tom Cullen’s version of master smelter John “Goldfinger” Palmer is more teddy bear than villain, all cuddles and doe eyes. But anyone who remembers Palmer’s timeshare scam in the 1990s knows that a nasty crook never caught his breath.
“People like us have to fight twice as hard to get anything in this world,” explained Kenneth Noye (Jack Lowden).