Prehistoric Planet: Discovering Dinosaurs review – a roaring success at Lightroom

Dinosaurs take over Lightroom in this spectacular immersive experience that works just as well for teenagers as it does for tiny palaeontologists.

There are some childhood obsessions you never quite grow out of. My 16-year-old may be long past the dino figure phase (although I did find one lurking near the bath a while back) but he still loves a roaring extinct reptile, so Prehistoric Planet: Discovering Dinosaurs at Lightroom was a nostalgic journey for us both.

Based on Apple TV+’s Prehistoric Planet, and narrated by the gravitas-rich Damian Lewis, the experience uses Lightroom’s vast projection walls and surround sound to plunge you into a prehistoric world of oceans, forests, cliffs and some extremely convincing dinosaurs. Designed by 59 Studio in collaboration with the programme makers, it has all the visual polish you’d expect, with a Hans Zimmer score helping ramp up the drama.

Prehistoric Planet: a truly immersive experience

It was so genuinely immersive, we could have watched it twice (in fact, if you arrive for the earliest slots, you can). Having lived through the peak dinosaur years with my son, there was also plenty that felt new. Our understanding of dinosaurs has moved on considerably since he was small, and the show folds newer discoveries and theories into the spectacle in a way that made me realise how much we’d missed.

Younger children seemed very at home here, despite the sheer size of the screens. Because it’s a free-flow experience, they can wander around rather than being expected to sit silently through a conventional screening, and the interactive elements are particularly good. Watching little ones measure themselves against dinosaurs on the enormous screens was – I want to say cute, but that’s a bit weird when it comes to dinosaurs.

We managed to grab big bench seats at a busy showing, which gave us a comfortable vantage point as the elders, but plenty of families simply settled on the floor and nobody appeared bothered by the informality. That freedom is part of its charm. And I should also mention that there were some older folk without kids, because dinosaurs are for everyone, and still have that capacity to instil wonder.

Lightroom is a perfect spot for London days out with kids

One complete show lasts around 50 minutes, but your ticket doesn’t mean you’re ushered straight back out afterwards, as I said: visitors are welcome to stay for another screening. The scale of the projections, combined with the sound and movement surrounding you on every side, becomes slightly intoxicating, and it’s easy to miss parts through the sheer overwhelming scale of the experience (in a good way).

Lightroom itself is also a lovely place to spend part of a day in King’s Cross, and the experience manages the difficult trick of entertaining very young children without feeling remotely babyish to older siblings or parents. Afterwards, weather permitting, little ones can head to the splash fountains in Granary Square to cool down, but it’s also a perfect outing for a rainy day.

At £25 for adults and £15 for under-18s, it’s not the cheapest family day out, though not bad value for London (under 3s go free). But this is far more than watching dinosaur footage on a large screen. It’s beautiful, informative and properly transporting: we loved it.

FQ verdict: 4.5/5

Prehistoric Planet: Discovering Dinosaurs runs at Lightroom, King’s Cross, until 1 September 2026.