LUCY, THE HUMAN CHIMP
C4, 9pm
THIS is the incredible story of Lucy, the chimpanzee raised as a human, and the woman who lived with her in the wild.
Janis Carter tells her extraordinary story, supported by archive footage and re-enacted scenes.
She begins: “I think Lucy recognised that there were chimps and that they were a different category, but I don’t think she put herself in that category. I think she saw herself as a human.”
Janis first met Lucy in 1976, when she was a 25-year-old college student. Lucy was 11 but had been raised as a human by a psychology professor from the day she was born.
Lucy was treated as if she was the family’s human daughter, but then she grew aggressive.
“She was formidable,” says Janis, who was hired as her carer.
But as Lucy grew large and dangerous, she was sent to Africa to learn to be a wild chimp – and Janis went with her, giving up her life for a new existence with Lucy living on a remote island.