THE most accurate depiction of Robert Burns ever seen will be unveiled on TV later this month.

Cutting-edge technology was used to create a life-size model of the poet's head.

According to the scientists who reconstructed the Bard, one of the most striking aspects of his features was his unusually large eyes.

The 3D image of the head will be unveiled in an STV documentary being screened on Burns Night.

Dr Caroline Wilkinson, professor of craniofacial identification at Dundee University, said casts of his skull and contemporary portraits of the poet had been used to recreate the most accurate 3D depiction possible. She said the result looked similar in some ways to well-known portraits of Burns, but one surprise had been the size of his head.

It was so big she initially thought the first 3D image was wrong. "But when I looked back at some of the text that had been written, there is quite a lot of description of him as having these incredibly large eyes and this powerful charismatic personality, so it kind of fits in with that."

The documentary will show the head being unveiled to an invited audience at The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, Ayrshire.

Actor David Hayman, who narrates the film, said it was "uncanny" to stand beside the face and try to get into "the man behind the genius".

In Search Of Robert Burns will be shown on STV at 8pm on January 22 and repeated on January 25