AllMovie

From the same production team responsible for the digital-animation triumph Walking with Dinosaurs, this four-part British miniseries covers some three and a half million years in the evolution of humanity. Set in East Africa, the project uses well-disguised human actors to recreate such milestones as the development of creating shelter, hunting with weaponry, banding together in communities, adopting climate-appropriate clothing, learning to make and use tools, and walking on two rather than four legs (it is theorized that this final achievement came about because humankind hoped to conserve energy for the purposes of procreation). Episode titles include "First Ancestors," "Blood Brothers," "Savage Family," and "The Survivors." A co-production of the BBC and America's Discovery Channel, Walking with Cavemen debuted in the U.K. on March 27, 2003, and in the U.S. (edited down to a single, two-hour special) on June 15 of that same year.