BBC bets on its hi-tech dinosaurs to win the ratings battle at Christmas

The success of Walking with Dinosaurs has persuaded the BBC to give the prehistoric beasts a starring role in television drama this Christmas.

A new version of Arthur Conan Doyle's story of epic exploration, The Lost World, will see Bob Hoskins and Peter Falk performing alongside monsters created digitally by the BBC's experts in computer generation. The drama tells the story of a British scientific team in 1911 discovering a lost world in the Amazon where dinosaurs still thrive. The BBC has already adapted the story on six occasions for radio.

Jane Tranter, controller of drama commissioning, said: "Tim Haines, who was responsible for Walking with Dinosaurs, is co-producing, creating a British television first by combining action-adventure period drama with the latest digital effects."

The Lost World was billed as one of the highlights of the Christmas season when the BBC unveiled its seasonal line-up yesterday.

Last year the Christmas night audience battle was won by ITV for only the second time in 15 years with 40.2 per cent of the audience compared to BBC 1's 39.8 per cent thanks in large part to the failure of its expensive blockbuster Titanic.

This year the BBC will be banking on the first Only Fools and Horses in five years. It reunites David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst to see how they have adapted to the high life since making £6m by selling a watch at auction – a previous Christmas special which attracted a record 24.35 million viewers.

However, viewers will not see a proposed appearance by David Jason's character Del Boy on ITV's hit show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? after the plans fell apart last week in a dispute between the BBC and ITV.

The BBC's films will include the television premières of Toy Story, Shakespeare in Love and swashbuckling action from Antonia Banderas in The Mask of Zorro. J K Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter, gives a rare interview for an Omnibus Special and, prompted by the attacks of 11 September, there will be a special Songs of Praise from Manhattan.

BBC2's highlights include the television adaptation of Trevor Nunn's award-winning National Theatre production of Merchant of Venice.

ITV has not yet revealed its Christmas line-up. But Channel 4 has announced an epic two-part drama starring Kenneth Branagh as the legendary British explorer Ernest Shackleton and a Graham Norton special in which he meets Dolly Parton.