AN Edinburgh-based palaeontologist is one of the stars of a new style of dinosaur show centred on the gory dissection of a life-like Tyrannosaurus rex.

Viewers around the world will watch Dr Steve Brusatte of Edinburgh University in the “half gruesome monster film and all science” documentary on Sunday.

During the programme, four experts including Brusatte will tackle a “bloody” autopsy on the anatomically correct recreation of a T-rex to see how the 65million-year-old beast lived and died.

While Brusatte admitted he was wary when the idea of the National Geographic Channel film was first proposed, he said it has turned out to be a highlight of his career.

“It’s cool for a Scottish university to have this chance to articulate what we are doing, and for Scottish science to be beamed around the world, so I am really excited about it,” he said. “It’s been really great to take what we have learned and bring this alive for millions of people.”

Brusatte was consulted on the building of the T-rex, which took nearly 10,000 hours and is modelled on CT scans of the bones of Sue, the largest, most complete and best-preserved T-rex specimen to be found.

Measuring 34ft long and 12ft tall, the model weighed close to 400kg and was filled with fake blood made of syrup, food colouring and water, while an artificial scent was added to the stomach contents to recreate the stench of a rotting digestive system.

Brusatte said viewers would be treated to a “spectacle”.

“It is bloody and gory but the science is top notch and as accurate as could be,” he said. “As we cut it up we talk about how it ate, how it lived and moved. The model is incredible, very life-like, and I think it is a totally new type of documentary, showing people what they were like as real, living animals.

“We’re not pretending that we found a real T-rex but we’re saying if we were able to cut up a T-rex what would we find. The science is airtight because many, many scientists were consulted on it.”

Brusatte said the show has changed the way he sees the dinosaur.

“I know a lot about bones but my image of T-rex has always been as a skeleton.

“Taking part in this has helped me see T-rex as a real 3D animal, seeming much more lifelike.”

Brusatte, who has previously worked on the Walking With Dinosaurs movies and games, said zany programme ideas were pitched to him on a fairly regular basis and he was inclined to think T.Rex Autopsy was in the same mould when he was first approached about it.

“I thought it was weird, but then I found out it was a totally new type of TV show aimed at giving people the latest science about what dinosaurs were like," he said.

“There are now so many shows about dinosaurs and a lot of them are kind of the same and a bit stale, but this is something no-one has ever done before.

"The spectacle of it is pretty amazing but a lot of science is packed into it as well.”

He added: “Cutting it up was really wild, especially doing it at Pinewood Studios.”

The other scientists involved were British vet, author and TV presenter Luke Gamble and Matthew T Mossbrucker, director and chief curator of Morrison Natural History Museum in Colorado.

The programme goes out just before the release of the new Jurassic World movie.

Brusatte said: “There is going to be a lot of interest in dinosaurs, but if you want to know what they were really like then this is the show to watch.”

The two-hour documentary will premiere on Sunday at 8pm on the National Geographic Channel.