Origins of Us

Origins of Us is a documentary series in which Dr Alice Roberts reveals how the body tells the story of human evolution. She looks at how the way people think, look and behave is a result of a six-million-year journey that took man from forest-dwelling apes to the most successful species living on the planet.Origins of Us tells the story of our species, homosapiens. In every one of our bodies is the evidence of how we evolved away from our ape cousins to become the adaptable, successful species we are today.

Anatomist and physical anthropologist Dr Alice Roberts reveals the key adaptations in our body that has contributed to our extra-ordinary success. Far from being inevitable, the evolution of our species is a product of pure chance. And with each anatomical advantage comes a cost, which many of us are still paying today. Bad backs, painful childbirth, impacted wisdom teeth are all a by-product of our evolutionary success.

This is a journey through your own body, 6 million years and 300 000 generations of our family, from a tree dwelling ape in the forests of Africa, to you and the six billion other humans on Earth today.

Episodes

Bones 

Bones : In the first episode, Dr Alice Roberts looks at how our skeleton reveals our incredible evolutionary journey.

Guts

Guts : In this second episode Dr Alice Roberts charts how our ancestors’ hunt for food has driven the way we look and behave today – from the shape of our face, to the way we see and even the way we attract the opposite sex.

Brains 

Brains : In the final episode Dr Alice Roberts explores how our species, homo sapiens, developed our large brain; and asks why we are the only one of our kind left on the planet today?