Dinosaur is a comedy on BBC3 and BBCIplayer starring Ashley Storrie as an autistic woman whose life is thrown into turmoil. Ashley, who is autistic herself and co-created the series with writer Matilda Curtis, plays Nina who loves living with her sister and best friend Evie, played by Kat Ronney. But then Evie has a whirlwind romance and gets engaged, making Nina her maid of honour. Nina’s life is thrown into a tailspin as she grapples with her sister’s impulsive decision and what that means for her own life, not least that she needs to find a date for the wedding.
“Playing Nina was probably the most liberating thing that’s ever happened in my entire life,” says Ashley. “A big part of my autism is ‘masking’ but Nina just kind of wears it out there. That’s what I loved about her. When you’ve got autism, you spend so much time trying to hide it, which just takes up so much energy. So, being Nina has made me realise that I should just be me and spend less time trying to make everybody feel more comfortable around my weirdness. She’s not diagnosed so she doesn’t know that it’s something she has to be hiding – it’s something about her that just ‘is’. It was a very liberating, wonderful experience.”
Here’s everything you need to know about the BBC3 series Dinosaur…
Dinosaur release date
Dinosaur is a six-part series that launches in the UK from Sunday April 14 2024, with weekly double bills on BBC3 at 9pm and 9.25pm. All six episodes will also become available on BBCiPlayer from April 14.
The show will also launch in the US on Hulu in 2024. When the US release date is confirmed, we’ll update this page.
Dinosaur plot
Dinosaur is set in Glasgow and follows Nina is an autistic woman in her 30s who is obsessed with dinosaurs and enjoys living with her sister. But then her sister Evie gets engaged, after a six-week romance, leaving Nina struggling to cope with this new development. Nina grapples with what this means for her future and embarks on a surprising journey of self-discovery when she realises she needs to bring a date to the wedding.
Nina’s relationship with her sister isn’t the only change that she’s navigating, as she explores new possibilities in her palaeontology career and a potential new relationship in her own life with the introduction of kind-hearted Lee, who helps Nina to see these new challenges in a more positive light. As their relationship blossoms, we see that Nina helps Lee just as much as he helps her.
Dinosaur cast — Ashley Storrie interview on playing Nina
Comedian and actress Ashley Storrie who has ASD herself, plays autistic Nina. This is her first major role but she’s also appeared on Breaking the News, The Blame Game, The Comedy Underground and Mission: Accessible.
Ashley says: "Nina is a palaeontologist who loves her family. She loves her sister Evie; she loves her city. She’s straight forward, she’s direct and I think she’s sometimes more direct than me. I often feel a little bit envious of that because Nina lives out loud fully who she is and I sometimes still put on my mask to try and be something else, so I do find myself a little bit envious of her at times.
"Nina and Evie are best friends, sisters, bonded through some sort of magical soul bond and they’re a bit co-dependent and overly reliant upon each other and maybe they’re trying to find out who they are without the other. I think that can be true of sisters or best friends, the women you grow up with and latch on to shape you so much and when those friends move on, get married and have babies, sometimes you can often find yourself kind of freewheeling and left behind. I’m so lucky that Kat, who plays Evie, we met, we fell in love, and we get along really well, and I feel so lucky that that happened because this could have been a completely different experience if that wasn’t the case.
"Nina’s parents are tremendous, Ade and Diane. They love her, she loves them and her brother Bo, who’s slightly more contentious. There’s a little bit of push back there from her brother but I think that’s a typical brotherly thing. I don’t know, I don’t have any but I’m basing it on reality television that I’ve watched, so I’m pretty sure that’s how it works. I’ve seen the Kardashians; I know how families operate. I call Bo ‘bawbag’ a lot and I feel like that’s an underrepresented word in British entertainment. I feel like we’ve had a hurricane bawbag, I’ve met a cat called bawbag and I feel like it needs to spread far and wide. Not just across Britain, but across the world."
Ashley Storrie on her new comedy: 'Dinosaur is about embracing difference, not being ashamed of it'
Who else is starring in Dinosaur?
Other cast in Dinosaur include Kat Ronney plays Nina’s sister Evie. Greg Hemphill (Still Game) is Ade, Sabrina Sandhu (Dodger, The Syndicate) plays Amber, Ben Rufus Green (The Cockfields) is Shane, Jim Kitson (Land of Women) is Declan, Sally Howitt (River City) is Diane, Kate Dickie (Game of Thrones, Inside Man) is Cecily and Sanjeev Kohli (Still Game) is Sachin. David Carlyle (It’s A Sin) plays Bo, Lorn Macdonald (BEATS, The Lazarus Project, Bridgerton) is playing Lee and Danny Ashok (Roadkill, Capital) plays Ranesh.
Kat Ronney says: "Dinosaur follows the story of two sisters, Evie and Nina who's played by my lovely friend Ashley Storrie. It's kind of a love story about these two sisters who have grown up as best friends, just glued to each others sides. They're pretty much chalk and cheese, they are not the same person, but they just click, and they just get each other so well. Evie then meets someone, Ranesh, and completely falls in love, and is ready to make that commitment. It's about how that change is going to affect Evie's life, but also Nina's life, and this life that they have together. I love their relationship so much and it has been genuinely just such a joy to do this with Ashley. I just think the world of her and we have had so much fun and genuinely, the thought of not seeing her every day actually breaks my heart a little bit which I think is absolutely what Evie and Nina are both feeling. It's definitely going to be a huge change for them. They live together, they have a very very set routine that they're both super comfortable in."
Is there a trailer?
Yes! The Dinosaur trailer gives us a brief snapshot of the warm relationship between Nina and her sister. Do check it out below...
Behind the scenes, locations and more on Dinosaur
Dinosaur was filmed in Glasgow and created by Matilda Curtis and Ashley Storrie. It's a Two Brothers Pictures (Fleabag, The Tourist) production for Hulu (US) and BBC Scotland, BBC iPlayer and BBC Three (UK) in partnership with All3Media International. Dinosaur was commissioned by Jon Petrie, Director of BBC Comedy and Louise Thornton, Head of Commissioning for BBC Scotland. It is based on an original idea by Matilda Curtis. The Executive Producers are Sarah Hammond, Katie Churchill, Harry Williams, Jack Williams. Catriona Renton is Co-Executive Producer. The Director is Niamh McKeown and the Producer is Brian Coffey. The BBC Commissioning Editors are Emma Lawson and Gavin Smith.
