Airdate: March of the Dinosaurs

Nine will air March of the Dinosaurs, a two-hour CGI documentary that follows the journey of dinosaurs millions of years ago as they tried to escape the deathtrap of an icy climate.

Narrated by Stephen Fry, it begins at the prehistoric North Pole where summers are warm, but temperatures plummet and darkness creeps over the land as worsening winters set in. The pole becomes a deathtrap for the dinosaurs as they go on a desperate, 1600-kilometre march south to find the sun that will save them.

Coincidentally, the doco will go up against Stephen Fry’s Kingdom, being replayed by ABC1 in the same timeslot.

The North Pole was once a tropical jungle that thundered with the footfalls of a thousand dinosaurs. As the climate changed, huge numbers of dinosaurs migrated south every year to escape the four-month, continuous night of an Arctic winter.

The story follows one of the most vulnerable members of the dinosaur pack – a young Edmontosaurus on its first migration, struggling to survive the perils of the prehistoric Arctic: treacherous volcanic landscapes, flash floods, landslides, droughts, and deadly predators lying in wait along the route.

The odds are stacked against this youngster – only one Edmontosaurus in a hundred survived to complete this first polar odyssey.

From gangs of Albertosaurus hunting under the Northern Lights to a mass dinosaur crossing of a river full of sea monsters, March of the Dinosaurs is a heart-thumping journey through a beautiful but perilous lost landscape, packed with epic scenes that have never been portrayed on film before.

It airs Saturday, June 25, at 7.30pm on Nine.