Animal Park
Encyclopedia
Television documentary
Documentary television is a genre of television programming that broadcasts documentaries.* Documentary television series, a television series which is made up of documentary episodes....
about the life of keepers and animals at Longleat Safari Park
Longleat Safari Park
Longleat Safari Park, in Wiltshire, England was opened in 1966 and was the first drive-through safari park outside Africa. The park is situated in the grounds of Longleat House, an English stately home that attracts tourists and is the current home of the 7th Marquess of Bath...
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, aired over 9 series on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
from 2000 until 2009. It also covered the daily life of workers in Longleat House
Longleat
Longleat is an English stately home, currently the seat of the Marquesses of Bath, adjacent to the village of Horningsham and near the towns of Warminster in Wiltshire and Frome in Somerset. It is noted for its Elizabethan country house, maze, landscaped parkland and safari park. The house is set...
, the estate and the gardens.
Main series
Animal Park was broadcast by the BBC on BBC TwoBBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
, with repeats appearing occasionally on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
. It was presented by Ben Fogle
Ben Fogle
Ben Fogle is an English television presenter, adventurer and writer.-Early life:Fogle is the son of actress Julia Foster and broadcasting veterinary surgeon Bruce Fogle...
and Kate Humble
Kate Humble
Katherine 'Kate' Humble is an English television presenter, mainly for the BBC, specialising in wildlife and science programmes...
. The show's first series was aired from 10 July 2000, and there have since been eight additional series of the show, with the last (205th) episode airing on 25 March 2009. It was also shown on Watch
Watch (TV channel)
Watch is a general entertainment channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland, as part of the UKTV network. The channel launched on 7 October 2008 on satellite through Sky and on cable primarily through Virgin Media.-History:...
.
This programme replaced the previous BBC series called Lion Country, also filmed at Longleat Safari Park
Longleat Safari Park
Longleat Safari Park, in Wiltshire, England was opened in 1966 and was the first drive-through safari park outside Africa. The park is situated in the grounds of Longleat House, an English stately home that attracts tourists and is the current home of the 7th Marquess of Bath...
, which aired in 1998 and 1999 with a total of 55 episodes.
Content
The show primarily focused on the animals, keepers, and day to day running of the safari park. Some of the animals have truly captured the heart of the public, including the late Kadu the tiger and the late Babs and Winston the rhinos, and the silverback gorilla, Nico. The show regularly featured Lord BathAlexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath
Alexander George Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath , styled Viscount Weymouth between 1946 and 1992, is an English politician, artist and author...
, the owner of Longleat. From time to time, the programme also included segments on the running of Longleat House and the treasures contained therein.
Spin off shows
There have been two spin offs from the main series. The first of which, Animal Park: Wild In Africa, originally aired from Monday 27 February 2006 to Friday 10 March on BBC2. The show followed wildlife experts in Namibia as they went about their work with the animals of the country, including examining injured lions and studying water holes. The second series, titled Animal Park: Wild On The West Coast followed a similar structure in San Francisco and CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and aired on BBC2 from Monday 23 July 2007 to 3 August 2007.
Series guide
- Series 1: 10x60' first shown from 10 July 2000 - 21 July 2000
- Series 2: 10x60' first shown from 9 July 2001 - 20 July 2001
- Series 3: 25x60' first shown from 7 May 2002 - 26 August 2002
- Series 4: 25x60' first shown from 23 February 2004
- Series 5: 25x60' first shown 6 September 2004
- Series 6: 15 x 60' + 20 x 30'
- Series 7: 15 x 60' + 20 x 30'
- Series 8: 10 x 60' + 15 x 45' first shown from 7 January 2008
- Series 9: 15 x 60' first shown from 5 January 2009 - 25 March 2009
Repeat showings of episodes from series 6 to 8 have been edited to run at a number of different run times, including 45, 30, 25 and 15 minutes, and are sometimes used as schedule fillers.