''I Am Not an Animal'' is an

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...

TV series telling the tale of highly intelligent animals rescued from a

vivisection Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for Animal testi ...

ist laboratory and forced to live on their own. The series was made and directed by

Peter Baynham Peter Baynham is a Welsh screenwriter and performer. He is best known for appearing in a series of comedic Pot Noodle television adverts in the 1990s. His work largely represents collaborations with comedy figures such as Armando Iannucci, Steve ...

. It was produced by

Baby Cow Productions Baby Cow Productions Ltd is a British comedy television production company based in London and Manchester, founded by Steve Coogan and Henry Normal. Since its establishment it has diversified into radio, animation and film. According to their ...

and ran on BBC Two in the United Kingdom from 10 May to 14 June 2004. It has also aired on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

in Australia. The title comes from the famous quote in ''

The Elephant Man Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), often erroneously called John Merrick, was an English man known for having severe deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "the Elephant Man" and then we ...

''.

Plot

In the laboratory Vivi-Sec UK, a group of six animals are part of the fourth batch of Project S, an experiment designed to create talking animals. The animals are given a sophisticated lifestyle in order for them to develop their intellect, living a luxurious life run by computers in something similar to a four-star hotel, unaware they are really part of a laboratory experiment. They have human-like personalities and names, wear specially designed clothes, speak in a pseudo-intellectual fashion, eat gourmet food, drink fine wines, read books and magazines and generally live like humans in luxury. Meanwhile, the other animals outside Project S are tortured with horrific experiments. The animals in the experiment include: *Philip Masterson-Bowie the

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

(voiced by Steve Coogan) *Winona Matthews the

pit bull Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...

(voiced by

Amelia Bullmore Amelia Mary Bullmore (born 31 January 1964) is an English actress, screenwriter and playwright. She is known for her roles in ''Coronation Street'' (1990–1992), ''I'm Alan Partridge'' (2002), '' Ashes to Ashes'' (2008–2009), '' Twenty Twelve ...

) *Hugh Gape the monkey (voiced by

Kevin Eldon Kevin Eldon (born 2 October 1959) is an English actor and comedian. He featured in British comedy television shows of the 1990s including ''Fist of Fun'', '' This Morning with Richard Not Judy'', '' Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge' ...

) *Claire Franchetti the rat (voiced by

Julia Davis Julia Charlotte L. Davis (born 25 August 1966) is an English actress, comedian, director and writer. She is known for writing and starring in the BBC Three comedy '' Nighty Night'' (2004–2005) and the comedies ''Hunderby'' (2012–2015) and ...

) *Mark Andrews (aka Glen Belt) the sparrow (also voiced by Steve Coogan) *Kieron the

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

(voiced by

Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. H ...

) A group of

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their Utilitarianism, utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding s ...

activists break into the laboratory to rescue the animals. Kieron is left behind, having his head removed from the rest of his body and being kept alive by machines. As the other animals are boarded into the activists' truck they don't know what's going on, and are joined by Niall (voiced by Arthur Mathews), a rabbit from an earlier batch of Project S which can only speak computer advice. When one of the animals asks the activists if they will be stopping for a toilet break, they panic and crash the truck into a tree. The animals escape, and go their separate way. After running into humans who are shocked, and other animals who can't speak as they do, they deduce they have somehow been transported into an alternative reality where only humans can speak and the other animals are enslaved by them (a reference to ''

Planet of the Apes ''Planet of the Apes'' is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on Frenc ...

''). Meanwhile, Vivi-Sec UK graft Kieron's head onto the body of a

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

and send him out to assassinate the other animals. Vivi-Sec UK also alerts the media that dangerous talking animals are on the loose. The animals take shelter in an elderly lady's house, who calls her psychiatrist to tell him that there are talking animals at her house. Believing the elderly lady to have lost her mind, he has medics take her away, leaving the animals to live in her house. During the series the animals try to interact with the world around them, to varying degrees of success or failure. At one point the animals discover that they were created in a lab and attempt to return. Upon breaking into the lab they discover that they have already been replaced and that their replacements are more successful than they, as each replacement has managed to achieve one of the animals' fondest wishes such as Winona's desire for children. Realizing that they have no place left, the animals return to the old woman's home to live out their lives.

Reception

Slate called it "a cheerfully sicko social commentary". ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' called it "deep, dark and funny".

Episodes

References

External links

* * Comedy Guide (Currently Unavailable as of Oct 2007) * {{IMDb title, id=0348943, title=I Am Not An Animal
''Baby Cow Productions'' siteI Am Not an Animal clips YouTube playlist from BBC Worldwide
2004 British television series debuts 2004 British television series endings 2000s British adult animated television series 2000s British animated comedy television series 2000s British black comedy television series British adult animated comedy television series English-language television shows BBC television comedy