Take a look behind the scenes of the Natural History Museum in London

Narrator Bill Nighy guides us behind the scenes as we meet the teams and scientists who work at one of the greatest museums in the world, the Natural History Museum in London.

It’s the country’s second most-visited museum, attracting almost 4.7 million people in 2022, and given the goodies that will be on show here, it’s not difficult to see why the place dubbed ‘the cathedral of nature’ is such a popular draw.

The museum dates back to the 17th century, when the British government used a lottery system to snap up the collection of Ulster doctor Sir Hans Sloane for a bargain price. It included dried plants, and animal and human skeletons, but had largely disappeared or been sold off by the early years of the 19th century.

Several unstable years followed, during which the public were encouraged not to come and see the museum’s natural history exhibits.

However, that changed with the appointment of palaeontologist Richard Owen as superintendent of the natural history departments of the British Museum in 1856.

What he did prompted Bill Bryson to enthuse: “by making the Natural History Museum an institution for everyone, Owen transformed our expectations of what museums are for”.

By 1880 under Owen, a new building had been constructed and the space we know and love today was born.

It is now home to the world-famous Geological Museum, the Darwin Centre and the Attenborough Studio, as well as Dippy, a Diplodocus carnegii skeleton replica, gifted to the museum by industrialist Andrew Carnegie, and 82-foot-long blue whale skeleton, Hope.

We’re sure to get a glimpse of these treasures and more, as cameras explore the many corners of this iconic building that most people never get to see – from the historic rooftop to its majestic hall and arguably the most famous dinosaur collection in the world.

But the amazing tour doesn’t end there. Space expert Ashley makes the greatest discovery of his career as he studies the Winchcombe Meteorite – the first of its kind to land and be recovered in the UK in 30 years – as he hopes to answer whether these space rocks really do hold the key to all life on Earth.

We’ll join top fly expert Erica as she heads to the beautiful Knepp Estate in Sussex in search of new insect species, and to discover whether their rewilding project is boosting the wildlife there.

Back at the museum, young dinosaur researcher Cassius scans a giant toothy jawbone belonging to a Gorgosaurus for the first time. This dinosaur was a fearsome cousin to the T Rex, but what was the secret of its success 80 million years ago?

The museum’s team of experts help schoolgirl, Iris, identify a stone she found in her playground. Could it be an emerald?

Finally, there’s action from the monthly giant sleepover, where 500 children and their parents and guardians can sleep with the dinosaurs, while the staff try to contain the excitement and the chaos by creating a night to remember among the museum’s incredible collection.

Whether everything comes alive, as in the Ben Stiller movies, remains to be seen…