Animal Park

History

The origins of the programme trace back to earlier documentaries about Longleat. The Lions of Longleat, a 1967 BBC One documentary, covered the newly opened safari park with commentary by Lord Bath and Jimmy Chipperfield. Another series, Lion Country, ran from 1998 to 1999 for 55 episodes. Animal Park first aired in 2000 on BBC One, presented by Kate Humble and Paul Heiney. For the second series, Ben Fogle replaced Heiney. The original run comprised nine series and 150 episodes, ending on 25 March 2009. Two spin-offs followed: Animal Park: Wild in Africa (2005, BBC Two), set in Namibia, and Animal Park: Wild on the West Coast (2007, BBC Two), set in California. In 2016, the BBC revived the show for a tenth series to mark the 50th anniversary of Longleat Safari Park. This five-episode series aired in August 2016 as Animal Park: Summer Special, with Humble and Fogle joined by reporter Jean Johansson. An eleventh series followed in 2017, with five Easter episodes and ten summer episodes. Series twelve, also titled Animal Park: Summer Special, aired in August 2018; its third episode commemorated the gorilla Nico, who died in January 2018 at age 56, and episode seven featured wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas using his BeetleCam. Humble and Fogle continued for the 2019 and 2020 series. Series fourteen, episode four (August 2020) honoured Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, who died in April 2020; his son Ceawlin Thynn, 8th Marquess, and his wife Emma have since appeared. Series fifteen (December 2020) had a Christmas theme. Wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin joined the presenting team in 2021. Series seventeen (August 2022) saw Megan McCubbin replace Johansson.