Historian Dan Snow has told how Dorset's Jurassic Coast will be thrown into the spotlight next week.

A new TV show broadcast live from the seaside in west Dorset presented by Mr Snow and others aims to open people’s eyes to the Jurassic Coast including its amazing prehistoric landscapes, unique animals and intriguing historical insights hidden beneath the sand and sea.

Mr Snow called the Jurassic Coast a ‘home from home’ and said he would often travel to Purbeck as a child to visit his grandparents.

He said: “It was my childhood visits to Swanage beach that sparked my lifelong love of the British coastline. Now I take my own children and rock-pool, surf and dive whenever I can.

“Charmouth beach and the whole stretch of the Jurassic Coast is a rich tapestry of stories waiting to be discovered, the perfect location for three nights of Beach Live in the height of summer.

“My passion for military history will be in full play uncovering the relics and legacy of the role the coastline played in D-Day preparations, and I go underground to see the huge quarries that are a vital part of the area’s industrial past and I find out about the fascinating social history of beach huts.”

The show, Beach Live: Jurassic Coast Revealed, will be broadcast live from Charmouth beach and presented by Mr Snow along with natural history experts Lucy Cooke and Niall Strawson.

Mr Snow said he hopes it will remind people how special the seaside can be.

He added: “It’s a celebration of the great British seaside and one of the most important stretches of it, the Jurassic Coast in Dorset."

Each episode will combine live searches and pre-filmed segments to reveal the hidden secrets of the coastline, and with the help of experts in palaeontology, history, geology and wildlife the team will build up a comprehensive picture of the beach, past and present.

Mr Snow told the Echo that during the show he will put on his diving gear to explore a sunken tank off the Jurassic Coast as well as explore an underground quarry on Portland.

He said: “It’s amazing to think that a lot of the buildings in London were made from stone from a small place on the coast of Dorset.”

The show can be seen for three consecutive nights from Tuesday, July 17 to Thursday, July 19 from 8pm to 9pm on BBC Four.

Anyone who has found any unusual items on the Jurassic Coast, including fossils, old coins, clay pipes or shipwrecks can get in touch via beach.live@bbc.co.uk – and you could appear on the show.