The Zoo (2017 TV series)

The Zoo is a British children's mockumentary television series broadcast on CBBC.[1] Produced by BBC Studios and DHX Media, the series follows the daily life of animals at Paignton Zoo and Living Coasts with a comic twist after they have been given human voices and computer-generated mouths.[2] It is also being aired on ABC Me and 7TWO in Australia and Family Channel and Family CHRGD in Canada.

The Zoo
GenreMockumentary
Directed byRowan Crawford
Starring
Narrated byHugh Dennis
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes30
Production
Executive producersJosh Scherba
Jonny Keeling
ProducerAaron Paul
EditorStuart Garlick
Running time11 minutes
Production companiesBBC Studios
WildBrain Studios
Release
Original networkCBBC
Original release14 August 2017 (2017-08-14) –
present

The series is narrated by Hugh Dennis, providing the viewers with a factual yet comical take on events and to converse with the animals to uncover their side of the story. It mainly focuses on Jürgen and his group of gorillas.[3]

The series premiered on CBBC on 14 August 2017. The second series premiered on 9 April 2018.

In September 2018 the show aired as part of the second series of Saturday Mash-Up.

Format

In a format similar to Animal Magic and Walk on the Wild Side, The Zoo features Hugh Dennis as the narrator talking to animals and staff in Paignton Zoo and Living Coasts. The animals were given human voices and computer-generated mouths. Lewis Macleod, Jess Robinson, Richard David-Caine, Jake Pratt and Stuart Garlick voice these animals. Animals are sometimes given accents like the giraffes, penguins, kangaroos and tigers for example. The main catchphrase is "_____ is an important daily part of daily life at the zoo and____"

Characters

Gorillas
  • Jürgen (Played by Kiondo)- The Silverback and leader of the 4 gorillas that make up his gang. He is self-appointed Boss of the Zoo although all of the animals don't ever listen to him. As the language of his name suggests, Jürgen distinctively speaks in a German accent and he is well known to say his catchphrase "Shut Up".
  • Geoffrey (Played by Kivu)- Geoffrey is Jürgen's main sidekick and the smartest of the gorillas. He is always correcting Jürgen despite Jürgen himself never listening to him, including being the self-appointed Boss of the Zoo. Geoffrey speaks in a Bristolian accent and often spends time with Dave.
  • Dave (Played by N'Dove)- Dave is a laid-back dopey gorilla who speaks with a surfer accent and he often spends time with Geoffrey. He tends to be mischievous such as taking and eating Jürgen's cake and his "pet" fish named Gertie.
  • Hank (Played by Pertinax)- Hank is the oldest gorilla in the troop, he is an old timer who mostly likes to avoid the drama then the other gorillas. Hank appears less frequent compared to the rest of the troop and he never corrects Jurgen despite his age.

Other important animals
  • Brutus - Brutus is a primate who is the resident evil genius of the Zoo with his sidekick Martin. He constantly plots against The Zoo, particularly the gorillas. His catchphrase is 'Today, the zoo, tomorrow, THE WORLD!'
  • Woody - Woody is a baboon, who is the unofficial leader of the Baboons rock in the zoo. He sometimes appears helping the narrator and is a frenemy of Jürgen. He is quite rude.
  • Duchess - Duchess is an eccentric old elephant who is the biggest and oldest animal in the zoo. She is slightly batty and occasionally aggressive because of this. However, she is usually nice!
  • Timmy - Timothy (Timmy) Tortoise is a beatboxing tortoise who likes to think he is very aggressive and mean, but is actually loveable and very scared of his mum.
  • Yoyo - Yoyo is a macaroni penguin who thinks he is a human, as he was raised by humans, but he eventually malted and found a girlfriend, becoming more like a penguin.
  • Geraldine - Geraldine is a diana monkey that only responds do anything with 'eh?' which the narrator finds rather amusing.
  • Fabi - Neil is a tiger who likes to eat anything meaty, like humans or even zebras. He has a new son called Luchu.
  • Topaz - Topaz is a kangaroo who once lost her hop as another kicked her leg.
  • Stripy McButtFace - Stripy is a zebra who is the leader of his small herd of 3. His weird name comes from a public vote, which went badly for him. He used to not trust humans due to his name, so his hooves overgrew, so he eventually had to have a pedicure to fix them so he could herd.
  • Hercules - Hercules is a new-born son giraffe who chose his own name, and was thrust a lot of pressure on by his father Yoda. As well as having 3 sisters, he was quite scared by the wide world, although plucked up the courage to go outside and meet the neighbours, when his dad went inside to face his fears against the vets.

References
  1. "The Zoo". comedy.co.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  2. "DHX takes CBBC to the zoo". c21media.net. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  3. "The Zoo%7cCBBC 14 August 8:45am". bradfordzone.co.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
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