A seven-part series tracing the origins of our species, presented by Richard Leakey
2: One Small Step ...
Recently RICHARD LEAKEY 'S mother, Mary, made perhaps the most remarkable discovery of her distinguished career. Close to Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania she unearthed the oldest human footprints in the world. Made nearly four million years ago, they are the earliest evidence we have of that crucial shift from four legs to two - something that forever set us apart from other animals.
Controversy rages over the nature of these ancient upright creatures. Are some 31 million-year-old fossils found in Ethiopia - including the famous skeleton ' Lucy ' - the ancestors of all later humans? Is Lucy an evolutionary dead end? Could our origins lie elsewhere, and even deeper, in the past?
Film cameraman ALEC CURTIS Film editor KEITH RAVEN
Graphic designer PETER CLAYTON Research JANE CALLANDER
Producer PETER SPRY-LEVERTON Series producer GRAHAM MASSEY
(An edited version of this series is printed weekly in THE LISTENER)