Primeval New Zealand

This award-winning documentary from NHNZ reveals new information about the origins of the iconic kiwi. Presenter Peter Elliott travels the country investigating how "evolutionary mutants" — like giant meat-eating snails, kiwi, and tuatara — evolved over 20 million years in the face of massive tectonic upheavals and extreme isolation.  Elliott answers why Aotearoa has the "weirdest creatures", such as birds that don't fly and mammals that do. Company Weta Workshop used computer graphics to create images of extinct creatures for this TV One documentary.  

Isolated from the rest of the world, New Zealand has always been home to some of the weirdest creatures on the planet.

– Presenter Peter Elliott

Key Cast & Crew

Celia Jaspers (née Offwood)

Editor, Producer, Director - Peter Elliott scenes

Brant Backlund

Director - Wildlife scenes, Research

Mike Single

Main Camera

Peter Elliott

Presenter

Judith Curran

Writer, Executive Producer

Michael Stedman

Executive in Charge of Production