The first diorama confronting visitors depicts a group of Australopithecines, our ape-like earliest ancestors, who lived more than four million years ago in Africa. The group is under attack from animal predators. While some instinctively act to protect their young, others use sticks and branches to ward off their attackers.

The second set introduces us to Homo erectus, who first appeared in Africa some two million years ago. The group appears to be on the move but progress has been halted because one of the party is injured. It is apt that this group of figures seem to be on a journey, as it was Homo erectus who may have started on the long trek out of Africa that led to the populating of the rest of the planet.

Lurking close by the set is another exhibit, a full scale replica of Homo erectus' most feared predator - the sabre-toothed tiger!

The third diorama brings us forward to 400,000 years ago, and the location has shifted to Europe. This is the era of the Neanderthals and we see a group burying one of their dead. The burial ritual suggests that by this point, a sense of tribal identity and collective responsibility was beginning to develop.

The Neanderthal was a close relative, as opposed to a direct ancestor, of our own Homo sapiens species. The difference between the Neanderthal and modern humans is illustrated by an additional exhibit - a Neanderthal dressed in 1990s street clothes.

The fourth diorama depicts our direct ancestors of just 30,000 years ago - the Cro-Magnons. These were the people who created the world's first art show on the cave walls of Southern France. Experts believe that intricate murals could not have been undertaken without some spiritual dimension to life at that time.

The fifth diorama is very different from the rest. With tongue firmly in cheek, it speculates on how modern humans might develop in the future, and the result is less than flattering. Far from natural selection ensuring the survival of the fittest, the exhibition creators see us developing into frumpy couch-potatoes isolated in a multi-channel universe. On a more serious note a digital clock on the wall of the set is recording every addition to the population of the planet.

Adjacent to each of the four main dioramas are casts of the key fossil finds which have unlocked the mysteries of our prehistoric past and provided a clearer picture of each significant stage in human evolution. These include a cast of the Turkana Boy fossil, an almost complete, petrified skeleton of an adolescent Homo erectus. Interpretation of the fossils is provided, via large screen videos, by a leading expert on each of the periods covered.

Interactive elements are an important part of modern exhibition design. Missing Links - Alive! allows visitors to go, literally, hands-on in the search for our origins. What did our early ancestors eat? What tools did they fashion? What dangers did they face? There is even an opportunity to compare strength of grip with that of a Neanderthal!

The advanced animatronics, computer-controlled compressors, which breathe life into the various dioramas, are also used to transport leading anthropologists Richard and Maeve Leakey from their field-research in Kenya to the City Art Centre. These state of the art androids, modelled on the famous couple, are widely acknowledged as the most life-like yet produced by the exhibition design industry. The Leakeys introduce visitors to the exhibition and there are reports from overseas venues that visitors have actually attempted to engage them in conversation!