Animal Park | |
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Presented by |
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Theme music composer | Simon May |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series |
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No. of episodes |
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Production | |
Production location | Longleat Safari Park |
Running time | 15–60 minutes |
Production companies | BBC, Endemol UK |
Original release | |
Network | BBC One (2000–2002, 2016–present) BBC Two (2004–2009) |
Release | 10 July 2000 – 25 March 2009 |
Release | 22 August 2016 – present |
Related | |
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Animal Park is a BBC television documentary series about the lives of keepers and animals at Longleat Safari and Adventure Park, Wiltshire, England. The show is presented by Kate Humble, Ben Fogle and Megan McCubbin, with appearances by members of Longleat staff and the landowners, the Thynn family.
As of August 2024, there have been 19 series of the programme as well as three special series, usually shown during school holidays and broadcast on weekdays in the daytime as daily episodes.
Programmes show the animals, keepers, and day-to-day running of the safari park. Some of the animals captured the hearts of the viewing public, including the tiger 'Kadu', rhinos 'Babs' and 'Winston', and Europe's oldest male silverback gorilla, 'Nico'.
Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, owner of the Longleat estate until his death on 4 April 2020, appeared regularly in the show. Animal Park also documents the running of Longleat House and the ongoing preservation of its historic contents.
The Lions of Longleat is a 1967 BBC One documentary about the newly opened safari park with commentary by Lord Bath and Jimmy Chipperfield. [1] Another series, Lion Country, aired between 1998 and 1999 with a total of 55 episodes.
The first series of Animal Park, originally broadcast in 2000 on BBC One, was presented by Kate Humble and Paul Heiney. [2] In series two, Heiney was replaced by Ben Fogle. Altogether, there were nine series and 150 episodes of Animal Park, with the last episode originally airing on 25 March 2009.
There have been two spin-offs from the main series. Animal Park: Wild in Africa was originally broadcast in 2005 on BBC Two. [3] Set in Namibia, it documented the work of wildlife conservationists.
Another spin-off, Animal Park: Wild on the West Coast, had a similar format in California, and was originally broadcast in 2007 on BBC Two. [4]
In 2016, the BBC announced that Animal Park would return for a tenth series to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Longleat Safari Park. [5] This series aired for five episodes in August 2016 in a daytime slot. The show was renamed Animal Park: Summer Special and was presented by Kate Humble and Ben Fogle, with Jean Johansson as a reporter.
An eleventh series was broadcast in 2017. Five episodes aired during Easter, with a further ten airing during the summer. [6]
Animal Park: Summer Special, series twelve, was aired in August 2018. [7] Episode 3 celebrated the life of the gorilla 'Nico', who died in January 2018 at the age of 56. [8] [9] Episode 7 featured wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas, who used his remote-control BeetleCam to take a series of close-up photographs of the animals. [10]
Humble and Fogle continued as presenters for the 2019 and 2020 series.
Series fourteen, episode 4 (first aired in August 2020) celebrated the life of the former owner of the Longleat estate, Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, who died in April 2020. [11] [12] His son Ceawlin Thynn, 8th Marquess and his wife Emma have since appeared on several episodes.
Series fifteen, aired in December 2020, had a Christmas theme. [13] In 2021, wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin joined the presenting team. [14]
Series seventeen aired in August 2022, with Megan McCubbin replacing Johansson. [15]
Series | Start date | End date | Episodes | Channel |
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1 | 10 July 2000 | 21 July 2000 | 10 | BBC One |
2 | 9 July 2001 | 20 July 2001 | 10 | |
3 | 7 May 2002 | 26 August 2002 | 25 | |
4 | 23 February 2004 | 26 March 2004 | 25 | BBC Two |
5 | 6 September 2004 | 13 October 2004 | 25 | |
6 | 22 August 2005 | 9 September 2005 | 15 | |
7 | 21 August 2006 | 8 September 2006 | 15 | |
8 | 7 January 2008 | 20 January 2008 | 10 | |
9 | 5 January 2009 | 25 March 2009 | 15 | |
10 | 22 August 2016 | 26 August 2016 | 5 | BBC One |
11 | 10 April 2017 | 11 August 2017 | 15 | |
12 | 6 August 2018 | 24 August 2018 | 15 | |
13 | 5 August 2019 | 23 August 2019 | 15 | |
14 | 17 August 2020 | 4 September 2020 | 15 | |
15 | 14 December 2020 | 18 December 2020 | 6 | |
16 | 9 August 2021 | 27 August 2021 | 15 | |
17 | 8 August 2022 | 25 August 2022 | 15 | |
18 | 7 August 2023 | 25 August 2023 | 15 | |
19 | 12 August 2024 | 23 August 2024 | 10 |
Some episodes from series six and eight have been re-edited into 15, 25, 30 and 45 minute programmes to be repeated and used as schedule fillers.
Series [16] | Start date | End date | Episodes | Channel |
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1 | 4 April 2005 | 6 May 2005 | 10 | BBC Two |
2 | 27 February 2006 [17] | 17 March 2006 [18] | 15 |
Series [19] | Start date | End date | Episodes | Channel |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 23 July 2007 | 6 August 2007 | 10 | BBC Two |
Alexander George Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, styled Viscount Weymouth between 1946 and 1992, was an English peer and landowner, owner of the Longleat estate, who sat in the House of Lords from 1992 until 1999, and also an artist and author.
Longleat is a stately home about 4 miles (7 km) west of Warminster in Wiltshire, England. A leading and early example of the Elizabethan prodigy house, it is a Grade I listed building and the seat of the Marquesses of Bath.
Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve near the town of Hythe in Kent, England is set in 600 acres (2.4 km2) and incorporates the historic Port Lympne Mansion, and landscaped gardens designed by architect Sir Herbert Baker, for Sir Philip Sassoon.
Charlotte Jane Uhlenbroek is a British zoologist and BBC television presenter.
Springwatch, Autumnwatch until 2022 and Winterwatch, sometimes known collectively as The Watches, are annual BBC television series which chart the fortunes of British wildlife during the changing of the seasons in the United Kingdom. The programmes are broadcast live from locations around the country in a primetime evening slot on BBC Two. They require a crew of 100 and over 50 cameras, making them the BBC's largest British outside broadcast events. Many of the cameras are hidden and operated remotely to record natural behaviour, for example, of birds in their nests and badgers outside their sett.
Katherine Mary Humble is an English television presenter and narrator, mainly working for the BBC, specialising in wildlife and science programmes. Humble served as president of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds from 2009 to 2013. She is an ambassador for the UK walking charity Living Streets.
Benjamin Myer Fogle, is an English broadcaster, writer and adventurer, best known for his presenting roles with British television channels Channel 5, BBC and ITV.
Christopher Gary Packham CBE is an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author, best known for his television work including the CBBC children's nature series The Really Wild Show from 1986 to 1995. He has also presented the BBC nature series Springwatch, including Autumnwatch and Winterwatch, since 2009.
Longleat Safari and Adventure Park in Wiltshire, England, was opened in 1966 as the world's first drive-through safari park outside Africa.
A safari park, sometimes known as a wildlife park, is a zoo-like commercial drive-in tourist attraction where visitors can drive their own vehicles or ride in vehicles provided by the facility to observe freely roaming animals.
Ceawlin Henry Laszlo Thynn, 8th Marquess of Bath, styled Viscount Weymouth between 1992 and 2020, is a British peer, landowner, and businessman, active in companies in the leisure, tourism, real estate, and financial services sectors.
Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth was an English politician who served as president of the Board of Trade from 1702 to 1705.
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Gordon John Buchanan is a Scottish wildlife cameraman, filmmaker and presenter. His work includes the nature documentaries Tribes, Predators & Me, The Polar Bear Family & Me and Life in the Snow.
Countrywise is a British television series on ITV, which looks at the best of Britain's coast and country. The programme is currently presented by Ben Fogle and Liz Bonnin.
Vets in Practice is a BBC fly-on-the-wall documentary series that followed a group of trainee veterinary surgeons. The first episode, Animal Magic, aired at 8 pm on 26 August 1997. Series one attracted 8.09 million viewers. It made celebrities of Trude Mostue and Steve Leonard, who became TV presenters.
Nico was a western lowland gorilla who lived in captivity at Longleat Safari Park, Wiltshire, UK. He was one of the longest lived gorillas in captivity.
Emma Clare Thynn, Marchioness of Bath, often known as Emma Weymouth, is a British socialite and fashion model. She is married to Ceawlin Thynn, 8th Marquess of Bath. In 2020, she became the first black marchioness in British history.
Megan McCubbin is an English zoologist, conservationist, photographer and television presenter.
Hamza Ahmed Yassin is a British wildlife cameraman and presenter, known for his role as Ranger Hamza on the children's television channel CBeebies and his work on shows such as Countryfile and Animal Park, as well as presenting programmes about Scottish wildlife. In 2022, he won the twentieth series of the BBC contest Strictly Come Dancing.