 | The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with UK and US and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(May 2022) |
Meerkats have been subject to numerous cultural depictions, and have featured in television programmes, films, books, and other media.
Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks named Alvin, Simon, and Theodore who are originally managed by their human adoptive father, David "Dave" Seville.
The Chipettes are a group of three female anthropomorphic chipmunk singers: Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor who first appeared on the cartoon series Alvin and the Chipmunks in 1983. In this and related materials, the Chipettes served as female featured characters in their own right, starring in numerous episodes. The title of the show was changed from Alvin and the Chipmunks to simply The Chipmunks in 1988 to reflect this. In the cartoon series and the accompanying feature films, all of the Chipettes were voiced by their creator, Janice Karman, the wife of Ross Bagdasarian Jr.. Karman also wrote and voiced the Chipettes' dialogue on their studio albums, while studio singers such as Susan Boyd, Shelby Daniel and Katherine Coon provided their singing voices. In Alvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks, Eleanor is voiced by Vanessa Bagdasarian, the daughter of Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and Janice Karman and wife of Brian Chambers.
Meerkat Manor is a British television programme produced by Oxford Scientific Films that premiered in September 2005. Originally broadcast on Animal Planet International for four series, until its cancellation in August 2008, the programme had a revival in 2021 with the programme now known as Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty in some countries. Using traditional animal documentary style footage along with narration, the series told the story of the Whiskers, one of more than a dozen families of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert being studied as part of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, a long-term field study into the ecological causes and evolutionary consequences of the cooperative nature of meerkats. The original programme was narrated by Bill Nighy, with the narration redubbed by Mike Goldman for the Australian airings and Sean Astin for the American broadcasts. The fourth series, subtitled The Next Generation, saw Stockard Channing replacing Astin as the narrator in the American dubbing. In 2021, Nighy could be heard narrating the new series of Meerkat Manor when it was broadcast in the United States on BBC America and on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, making it the first time that both television markets have used the same voice over on the programme.
Simon James Greenall is an English actor, producer, writer and voice artist. He has portrayed Michael in the BBC television series I'm Alan Partridge, as well as in Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, the Caretaker in the CBBC game show Trapped! and Richard in Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married. He has also appeared in various roles in television comedies such as Harry Enfield's Television Programme, The Armstrong and Miller Show, Alas Smith and Jones, The Impressions Show with Culshaw and Stephenson and Benidorm.
BGL Group is a financial services company based in Orton Southgate, Peterborough, England. Its main lines of business are vehicle and home insurance, with a range of supplementary products such as breakdown cover, legal protection and personal accident cover.
The Kalahari Meerkat Project, or KMP, is a long term research project focused on studying the evolutionary causes and ecological consequences of cooperative behaviors in meerkats. The secondary aims of the project are to determine what factors affect the reproductive success of the meerkats and what behavioral and physiological mechanisms control both reproduction and cooperative behavior. The project is also working on monitoring overall plant and animal populations within the reserve and work with the nearby community of Van Zylsrus in the areas of conservation and sustainable use of resources.
Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins is a 2008 television film created by Discovery Films and Oxford Scientific Films as a prequel to the Animal Planet series Meerkat Manor. A scripted documentary narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, the film details the life of a meerkat named Flower from birth to her becoming the leader of a meerkat group called the Whiskers. The film is based on the research notes of the Kalahari Meerkat Project and primarily uses wild meerkat "actors" to represent those in the story. Shot over two years at the Kuruman River Reserve in Northern Cape, South Africa, the film employed a much larger crew than the series. Some scenes were shot at a wildlife park in the United Kingdom, while others were created using camera tricks and trained film animals.
Oxford Scientific Films (OSF) is a British company that produces natural history and documentary programmes. Founded on 8 July 1968, by noted documentary filmmaker Gerald Thompson, the independent film company broke new ground in the world of documentaries, using new filming techniques and capturing footage of never before filmed activities of its various subjects. In 1996, Oxford Scientific Films was sold to Circle Communications, where it retained its own identity as a division within the company. The following year, Circle Communications was taken over by Southern Star Entertainment UK. Under the new ownership, Oxford Scientific Films continued to enhance its reputation for innovative film-making, producing multiple award-winning series and films, including the highly acclaimed Animal Planet series, Meerkat Manor.
Comparethemarket is a UK price comparison website, founded in 2006, that is part of the BGL Group. The website also offers other on-line companies the ability to provide their customers with a co-branded or white labelled comparison service.
The Meerkats, also known as Meerkats: The Movie, is a feature-length 2008 British wildlife fiction film which anthropomorphises the daily struggles of a clan of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert. It was produced by BBC Films, and filmed by the award-winning BBC Natural History Unit. It is the debut directorial feature of James Honeyborne, previously a producer of natural history programmes for television. The worldwide premiere was held at the Dinard Film Festival, France in October 2008, expanding to a wide release the following week. The film was released in 2009, on 7 August in the UK. This was dedicated to actor Paul Newman, the narrator of the film, who died in 2008, shortly before this movie was released making it his final film role.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel is a 2009 American live-action/computer-animated jukebox musical comedy film directed by Betty Thomas, written by Jon Vitti, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and produced by Janice Karman and Ross Bagdasarian Jr.. The second installment in its live-action film series and the sequel to Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007), the film stars Zachary Levi, David Cross and Jason Lee. Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney return as the Chipmunks from the previous film. Amy Poehler, Anna Faris and Christina Applegate voice the new characters, the Chipettes. The film sees the Chipmunks entering high school and being under the care of Dave Seville's cousin, Toby, while Ian Hawke recruits the Chipettes to restore his career.
Orlov or Orlova is a Russian last name shared by the following people:
Compare the Meerkat is an advertising campaign on British and Australian commercial television for comparethemarket.com, a price comparison website, part of BGL Group. The adverts feature Aleksandr Orlov, a CGI anthropomorphic Russian meerkat and his family and friends. Orlov is portrayed as being of aristocratic stock and the founder of comparethemeerkat.com: the campaign originally centred on his frustration over the confusion between his website and comparethemarket.com, playing on the similarity between the words market and meerkat. Orlov's catchphrase is "Simples".
Darren Walsh is a British director, writer, animator and voice artist. He uses stop-frame animation, live-action, and CG in his work. He lives in London and is represented by production company Passion Pictures, having worked previously independently and for Aardman Animations.
The fictional animated singing group Alvin and the Chipmunks created by Ross Bagdasarian have appeared in eight feature-length films since their debut.
Planet Earth is a television and film documentary franchise produced and broadcast by the BBC. The franchise began in 2001 with the success of The Blue Planet. As of 2017, The Blue Planet has spawned 5 series and one feature film.
Comparethemarket.com.au is an Australian price comparison website operated by Compare the Market Pty Ltd, part of Innovation Holdings Australia Pty Ltd and BHL Holdings Limited. It offers a service for customers to compare a range of general insurance, health insurance, life insurance, energy and personal finance products.