Animal lovers go ape over remake of TV zoo classic
WITH a wisecracking baboon and beat boxing tortoise, the BBC’S latest children’s programme was meant to evoke a charming era of inoffensive television that was as entertaining as it was educational.
But a remake of Johnny Morris’s Animal Magic, set in a zoo where creatures are given human voices with computer-generated moving mouths, has led to calls for the series to be scrapped over animal rights.
In a move that some will see as politically correct, the Born Free Foundation, a wildlife charity, has condemned The Zoo for “attributing human voices to animals and misinterpreting their actions to meet a fabricated narrative” that was “seriously misleading and mis-educational”.
The BBC was last night forced to defend the 15-part series filmed at Paignton Zoo in Devon, insisting it was in no way mocking animals held in captivity for laughs. Instead, it says the CBBC show entertains and educates.
The programme, filmed by the BBC’S Natural History Unit, was promoted as the “Animal Magic of the 21st century”.
Giving human characteristics to tigers, lions, monkeys and penguins was also meant to appeal to those adults who recalled Morris’s antics as a zookeeper at Bristol Zoo in the classic show of the Sixties and Seventies. However, while Morris boasted in his autobiography how Animal Magic had never received a single viewer complaint, The Zoo, narrated by Hugh Dennis, the comedian and star of Mock the Week and Outnumbered, has hit controversy before its first episode is even aired. In a letter to the BBC, Will Travers, president of the Born Free Foundation, says: “The incarceration of wild animals, frequently for life, the lack of meaningful education, and the dubious conservation claims made by the zoo industry are unlikely to be challenged in a series described as ‘fact filled and fun packed’ and full of ‘everyday adventures’.” He adds: “Depicting animals this way to a highlyimpressionable eight to 12-year-old audience will, in my view, do nothing to advance our understanding of animals and I ask you to show some respect for a society that has moved on since Animal Magic, and withdraw this kind of programming from the schedule.”
In reply, Alice Webb, director of BBC Children’s, wrote: “The comedy is created by animals portraying human foibles and the social scenarios of living together in a small community and miscommunications that arise.
“A similar example might be the popular BBC comedy Porridge – it isn’t funny because people are in prison – rather from the misunderstandings
‘I ask you to show some respect for a society that has moved on since Animal Magic, and withdraw this’
and mishaps of human interaction in a small community. The Zoo is based on the same principle.”
Mr Travers said yesterday: “I am astounded that Ms Webb should have compared The Zoo with Porridge. One is a dearly loved comedy starring the late Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale.
“The other is about captive animals given human voices, expressing humanistic viewpoints about their totally artificial lives.
“Prison is what we do to people who have done something so bad that society deprives them of their freedom. A zoo is an entity that deprives wild animals of freedom for entertainment and dubious education.”
Greg Childs, of the Children’s Media Foundation, said: “Zoos exist. Some are also serious scientific institutions. We would, however, encourage the BBC to take a broad view on this and ensure any controversy surrounding The Zoo is discussed.”
A BBC spokesman said: “There is widespread and mainstream scientific evidence about the positive educational and conservational value of good quality zoos, and we’d suggest people watch the programme before passing judgment.”
The Zoo is due to begin on Monday.