IF you missed this stunning television series on ITV1 over the summer, don't make the mistake twice - go out and buy this brilliant two-disc DVD.

Prehistoric Park is groundbreaking. It's a hybrid of fascinating natural history documentary and blockbuster action movie. The series' strapline - extinction doesn't have to be forever' - teasingly tells you what it's about.

Well-known television naturalist Nigel Marven travels' back through a nifty time portal to various points in our prehistory in a bid to bring back live dinosaurs to populate a new safari park.

Over the course of six episodes, Nigel goes on the trail of tyrannosaurus rex, sabre-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths, woolly rhinos and triceratops.

I won't spoil the fun, but the creatures don't give him an easy ride. There is plenty of tension, and the dramatic scenes match anything in Jurassic Park.

What sets this programme apart is the breath-taking computer animation. It's wondrous and leaves you believing the beasts have truly been brought back from extinction. Meanwhile, David Jason provides stylish narration.

We sat down as a family to watch the first episode and fell in love immediately.

Thereafter, my three-year-old daughter led the dash to switch on the telly each Saturday at teatime, desperate for a fix of Nigel, Bob the park keeper, Suzanne the park vet and the enchanting cast of dinosaurs: Terence and Matilda the T-rexes, Theo the triceratops, Martha the woolly mammoth, and my daughter's favourite, the giant crocodile. Now that the DVD is here, it's not been out of our player.

There is a fascinating making of' documentary and facts and statistics stuffed into the special features on the disc.

I can't recommend it highly enough.