director the ballad of big al
___MASK79___ is a screenwriter , producer and director who is best known for his work on the BBC popular science shows " Walking with Dinosaurs ", " Walking with Beasts ", and " Walking with Monsters ". He is co - creator and executive producer of the ITV sci - fi drama " Primeval ", and founder of the production company Impossible Pictures . The BBC Natural History Unit ( NHU ) is a department of the BBC which produces television , radio and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme . It is best known for its highly regarded nature documentaries , including " The Blue Planet " and " Planet Earth ", and has a long association with ___MASK9___ ' s authored documentaries , notably " Life on Earth ". Walking with Dinosaurs is a six - part documentary television miniseries created by ___MASK79___ and produced by BBC Natural History Unit . The series first aired on the BBC in the United Kingdom in 1999 with narration by Kenneth Branagh . The series was subsequently aired in North America on the Discovery Channel in 2000 , with Avery Brooks replacing Branagh . The first entry in the " Walking with ..." series , the program explores ancient life of the Mesozoic Era , portraying dinosaurs and their contemporaries in the style of a traditional nature documentary . The Walking with ... series ( also known as the Trilogy of Life or Walking with Prehistoric Life series ) is a collection of shows that are produced by the BBC and are made by Impossible Pictures . The aim of the series and specials , along with its books , is to recreate extinct animals and presents them as a wildlife documentary . All the shows ( with the exception of " Chased by Dinosaurs " and " Sea Monsters ") focus on one individual of a certain species or that species as the main characters in each episode . Creatures were realized through computer graphics and animatronics and are directed by ___MASK79___ . The concept for the series was imagined by ___MASK79___ and Jasper James . The Ballad of Big Al ( distributed in the North American market as Allosaurus : a Walking with Dinosaurs Special ) is a combination biography - sequel for Walking with Dinosaurs . It focuses on an Allosaurus ( Allosaurus fragilis ) named Big Al and his constant struggle to survive in a world filled with danger . Avery Franklin Brooks ( born October 2 , 1948 ) is an American actor , director , and occasional singer . He is best known for his television roles as Benjamin Sisko on "", as Hawk on "" and its spinoff " A Man Called Hawk ", and as Dr . ___MASK52___ in the Academy Award - nominated film " American History X ".