Monday 31st August, 2009
National Geographic Channel and production company NHNZ have announced the commission of The Bone Zone (NGCI)/Jurassic CSI (NGC US working title), a new six-part series that brings the prehistoric world to life. Hosted by world-renowned palaeontologist Dr. Phil Manning, the series will feature Dr. Manning and a team of leading scientists who travel to dinosaur hot spots to explore their former domains. The series will be airing on National Geographic Channel in 2010.
In The Bone Zone/Jurassic CSI, Dr. Manning borrows the world’s most advanced technologies from the space race, the arms race and the world of medicine and turns them on the past. Employing these cutting-edge tools, the series will project how dinosaurs actually moved, sensed, lived, died and even how they thought. Dr. Manning – a senior lecturer at the University of Manchester (U.K.) and Research Associate at the University of Pennsylvania (U.S.) – is no stranger to television, having fronted Dino Autopsy also for National Geographic Channel.
“From the success of other dinosaur-related programming, National Geographic Channel recognises our viewers’ fascination with the ancient world of dinosaurs – how they lived and how they died”, said Sydney Suissa, Executive Vice President of Content for NGCI. “We are happy to partner with NHNZ and Dr. Manning, a leading expert at the forefront of the palaeontology field, on this exciting new series”.
NHNZ Executive Producer Lawrence Cumbo says The Bone Zone/Jurassic CSI chronicles Manning in action as he and his team of investigators travel the world to discover new clues about dinosaurs. “In each episode, our audience will join the quest as Manning reveals a totally new picture of palaeontology. Like a Crime Scene Investigator, Manning uses high tech hand held lasers, CT scanners, experiments in the field and lab, even dissecting modern animals like alligators and emus, to solve some the most intriguing questions about dinosaurs".
“The Bone Zone/Jurassic CSI gives me an opportunity to integrate the latest developments from almost all disciplines, from physics and engineering to biology and forensic science to showcase dinosaurs in previously unimaginable ways,” said Dr. Manning. ”Using the vast resources of the largest University in the UK, we are able to tease information from fossil remains that has been impossible to find in the past.”
The Bone Zone/Jurassic CSI is produced for National Geographic Channel by NHNZ. Philippa Gilmour is series producer for NHNZ and Lawrence Cumbo is Executive Producer with Michael Stedmand NHNZ's Executive in Charge of Production. For National Geographic Channel, Executive Vice Presidents of Content are Sydney Suissa and Steve Burns.