Giant New Zealand eagles and dead celebrities populate TV One in the lead-up to Christmas, in two shows that get into the spirit of things as they entertain the quick by raising the dead.
David Attenborough, he of the voice so gentle, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, quietly knowing; just a little bit mischievous, and ingrained indelibly in the bones in each and every one of us, hosts the first.
David Attenborough's Natural History Museum Alive takes a science documentary stab at the idea (this would make a great movie, perhaps starring Ben Stiller) of spending a night in a museum.
It does so using terrific GCI technology that brings the extinct back through the mists of time, and into London's Natural History Museum - apparently one of the most popular of all London's attractions.
''Sometimes it gets so crowded, that it can be difficult to see the exhibits as closely as you might wish,'' Mr Attenborough explains.
But the clever old devil sneaks behind a skeleton display, waits for the crowds to leave, and we're all on.
Natural History Museum Alive is on next Sunday evening.
Happily, it begins with extinct creatures from one of the most excellent countries in the world.
We hear of a huge thighbone found in 1839, and it is not long before an enormous moa smashes its way from its display case and starts walking the historic halls of the museum.
And, gee, it looks good.
But that's not all.
The giant moa had an enemy, which populated Maori legend, a huge predatory eagle, and ''what's more there are bones to prove it''.
Tramping and tourism in the South would have been an awful lot more dicey if they had occurred pre-1400, when the Haast's eagle (Harpagornis moorei) ruled the roost.
The eagle had, Mr Attenborough says, a beak the size of a butcher's cleaver, powerful eyesight, and razor-sharp talons as big as the claws of a tiger.
It comes to life in Natural History Museum Alive, and what a sight!With massive thighs and an impressive feathery belly, it flies through the building, making life completely hazardous for our moa.
Natural History Museum Alive is terrific fun, and David Attenborough is fabulously avuncular.
Also delving into the history of those no longer alive is Autopsy: The Last Hours of ... Anna Nicole Smith.
The show looks at the death of the Playboy model and tabloid favourite, who died in 2007 aged 39.
Prof Richard Shepherd, who has been conducting ''high profile autopsies'' for more than 25 years takes a look at what occurred.
Apparently, he gave evidence at the inquest of Princess Diana.
But be warned: ''There are no celebrities on a mortuary slab.''
- Charles Loughrey
