Neanderthal

In Leipzig, Germany Ella meets Svante Paabo, the man who decoded Neanderthal DNA and made a very surprising discovery.

At Vanderbilt University, geneticist Tony Capra investigates how our Neanderthal genes affect us today.

Ella Al-Shamahi travels to the very Southern tip of Europe to meet the Neanderthals who once occupied the Rock of Gibraltar. It may have been one of the last places that Neanderthals survived.

Using the skull of a Neanderthal, found in the Shanidar Cave in northern Iraq, facial reconstruction expert Chris Rynn is able to build a picture of a Neanderthal face that hasn’t been seen for 60,000 years.

This two-part series investigates what our ancient ancestors looked like and what would have happened when we met them. It turns out that what we thought we knew about them is wrong. They weren’t hunched, grunting, knuckle-dragging ape-men at all. In a reconstructed, imaginary confrontation, we discover they were faster, smarter, better looking and much more like us than we ever thought.

Harvard paleoanthropologist Dan Lieberman has designed an experiment to show how Neanderthals were built for speed.

Hollywood master of motion-capture, Andy Serkis – the man who brought us Golem in "The Lord of the Rings" and Caesar in "Planet of the Apes" – brings Ned the Neanderthal back to life.

Join Ella Al-Shamahi, assisted by Hollywood actor Andy Serkis, as she explores the fate of the Neanderthals, asking why they became extinct and discovering how they live on inside us today.

Could Neanderthals speak? Anatomist Sandra Martelli reveals the latest experimental evidence that lets us listen to a Neanderthal voice.