The Dinosaur Hunters

Overview

One man who kept asking questions was Gideon Mantell, the amateur paleontologist who, in the early 19th century, fought to get the British scientific establishment to accept Britain had been inhabited by dinosaurs. As this dramatised documentary shows, Mantell had an uphill battle in a time when the biblical account of creation was considered literal truth and authorities such as the Reverend William Buckland were determined that science remain "the handmaid of religion".

Directed by Andrew Piddington

Top cast

Henry Ian Cusick

Gideon Mantell

Paul Brightwell

Leney

M

Michelle Bunyan

Caroline Owen

Alan Cox

Richard Owen

K

Kristian Griffiths

Walter Mantell (Aged 14-18)

Derek Jacobi

Narrator (voice)

R

Rebecca McClay

Mary Anning

Robert Morgan

Charles Lyell

Michael Pennington

William Buckland

Rachel Shelley

Mary Mantell

L

Laurie Goode

Removal Man (uncredited)

Details