I found episode 4 "Next of Kin", the most compelling, featuring as it does Australopithecines, our ancestors. I thought that these were quite well rendered, and believably presented in terms of attributed behaviour. At times I even felt a moment of awe. On a second watching, these moments were still felt to some extent, and therefore I feel the series has some enduring merit.

It would not be honest to say that the series is gripping, and I don't feel that either this series or Walking with Dinosaurs is a match for much of David Attenborough's work, for example (in terms of structure, variety of material covered, and photography - simulated or otherwise..!), however it is definitely worthwhile, and in the case of the creatures it features, it opens up a window on a period of our world's prehistory that has never before been convincingly depicted, (certainly not with this favour of authenticity and spectacle) and that is a wonderful thing in itself.