''Meerkat Manor'' is a British
television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
me produced by
Oxford Scientific Films
Oxford Scientific Films (OSF) is a British company that produces natural history and documentary programmes. Founded on 8 July 1968, by noted documentary filmmaker Gerald Thompson, the independent film company broke new ground in the world of do ...
that premiered in September 2005. Originally broadcast on
Animal Planet International for four series, until its cancellation in August 2008, the programme had a revival in 2021 with the programme now known as ''Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty'' in some countries. Using traditional animal
documentary style footage along with narration, the series told the story of the Whiskers, one of more than a dozen families of
meerkats in the
Kalahari Desert
The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa.
It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal d ...
being studied as part of the
Kalahari Meerkat Project, a long-term
field study
Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct fi ...
into the ecological causes and evolutionary consequences of the cooperative nature of meerkats. The original programme was narrated by
Bill Nighy
William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with '' The Illuminatus!'' in 1977. There he ...
, with the narration redubbed by
Mike Goldman
Michael Goldman (born 7 November 1972), is an Australian actor, television and radio host and voice over. He has appeared in television roles, mini-series and films like Young Rock, The Wilds and A Place to Call Home. He is the son of televisio ...
for the Australian airings and
Sean Astin
Sean Patrick Astin (né Duke; February 25, 1971) is an American actor. His acting roles include Samwise Gamgee in ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003), Mikey Walsh in ''The Goonies'' (1985), Daniel Ruettiger in '' Rudy'' (1993), Dou ...
for the American broadcasts. The fourth series, subtitled ''The Next Generation'', saw
Stockard Channing replacing Astin as the narrator in the American dubbing.
In 2021, Nighy could be heard narrating the new series of ''Meerkat Manor'' when it was broadcast in the United States on BBC America and on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, making it the first time that both television markets have used the same voice over on the programme.
''Meerkat Manor'' premiered in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2005, and the first 13-episode series concluded on 24 October 2005. With the success of the programme in the United Kingdom, Animal Planet started broadcasting it on its national channels in Australia, Canada, and the US. It has since been rebroadcast in more than 160 other countries. The fourth, and final, Animal Planet series aired initially in the United States from 6 June 2008
to 22 August 2008. In August 2009, it was reported that the programme had been cancelled by Animal Planet. In 2021, ''Meerkat Manor'' returned to British TV screens with a new series subtitled onscreen as ''Rise of the Dynasty'' (as Channel 5 listed the programme just as ''Meerkat Manor''). The 13-part series was again narrated by Nighy, and was shown by Channel 5 every weekday in the 6.30pm slot usually featuring quiz show ''Eggheads'', with the last episode going out on Wednesday 15 December 2021. The ''Rise of the Dynasty'' series was made by
Oxford Scientific Films
Oxford Scientific Films (OSF) is a British company that produces natural history and documentary programmes. Founded on 8 July 1968, by noted documentary filmmaker Gerald Thompson, the independent film company broke new ground in the world of do ...
(with the master rights belonging to
BBC America
BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary seri ...
) and featured three mobs of meerkats, with the groups being given the names Whiskers, Hakuna Mata and Ubuntu.
Although the show faced criticism from viewers for not intervening when a meerkat was injured and faced death, ''Meerkat Manor'' enjoyed considerable success and was Animal Planet's top series in October 2007, both on the cable channel and through its video-on-demand service. The show's experimental format broke new ground in animal documentary filming techniques and gave viewers a long-term, intimate look into the lives of its meerkat stars, breaking the traditional wall between viewer and subject found with most documentaries. ''Meerkat Manor'' was nominated for three
Primetime Emmy Awards: two in 2007 and one in 2008.
It won awards at the 2006 Omni Awards, and at the 2006 and 2007 New York Festivals TV Broadcasting Awards. The first three series have been released to DVD in both
Region 1 and
Region 2. In 2007, a book entitled ''Meerkat Manor – The Story of Flower of the Kalahari'' was released in the UK, detailing the life of Flower and the Whiskers before the series' filming began. A television film, ''
Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins'', documenting Flower's birth and rise to matriarch of the Whiskers, aired on Animal Planet on 25 May 2008.
Production details
''Meerkat Manor'' was created by Caroline Hawkins, executive producer and series editor at Oxford Scientific Films, and commissioned for
Animal Planet International by executive producer and commissioning editor Mark Wild.
Filming for a 13-episode series took seven to eight months, and was limited to the Kalahari spring and summer seasons, as meerkats are less active during winter.
Series three was filmed from November 2006 through April 2007, and Series four began filming in October 2007.
Most scenes were filmed on location at the Kuruman River Reserve, where the
Kalahari Meerkat Project that the meerkats are a part of is based. However, the meerkats seen in commercials and on the show's website were not the same animals portrayed in ''Meerkat Manor''. Instead, tamer-rescued meerkats from the Fellow Earthlings' Wildlife Center were filmed against a
green screen.
The show was primarily filmed using
Sony DSR-570 cameras, although special equipment was needed for some unique footage. For scenes inside the animals'
burrows, mini
fibre-optic
An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means t ...
infra-red cameras were employed; wide-angle shots were filmed with a seven-metre crane and a remote-controlled camera platform.
An off-camera wireless microphone was also used to record many meerkat vocalizations, only partially audible to cameras' on-board systems.
Most filming was done by a single cameraman and a single sound engineer; researchers have required a minimal human presence to avoid stressing the animals.
Eye-level shots were difficult to achieve at times, due to the meerkats' small size and the limited height of even the smallest tripods.
For tracking purposes by the researchers, the dominant female of each group is fitted with a radio collar, as are some dominant and roaming males. The meerkats – especially younger animals – are marked with dye to differentiate them.
As the meerkats are habituated, they would tend to ignore the camera crew as long as their "personal space" was respected.
National variations
The UK and US versions of the show have the same content for most episodes; however, the latter was sometimes edited for length to allow for more commercial breaks. Content was also sometimes altered; mating scenes in particular were often removed from the US version. Animal Planet US occasionally changed the names of meerkats and episode titles.
Two of Flower's pups were renamed from Ren and Stumpy to Len and Squiggy; the title of the episode was also changed.
De la Soul (named for the
rap group of the same name), one of the sisters who started the Starsky group, was renamed Whoopi in the US as a tribute to actress
Whoopi Goldberg
Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...
, an early fan of the series.
Animal Planet US has also renamed some of Flower's pups born in season three to honour two other famous fans of the show,
Elizabeth Taylor and
Denis Leary
Denis Colin Leary (born August 18, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. A native of Massachusetts, Leary first came to prominence as a stand-up comedian, especially through appearances on MTV (including the comedic song "Asshole") and throu ...
.
Several episodes were renamed: the title of the final episode of the second series was changed from "The Killing Fields" to "The Quiet Fields".
During the third series, the third episode's title was changed from "Something's Got to Give" to "Sister Act" (another Goldberg
reference
Reference is a relationship between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object. The first object in this relation is said to ''refer to'' the second object. It is called a '' name'' ...
), while the sixth episode's title changed from "The House of Zappa" to "Sibling Rivalry".
Narrative
The show follows several groups of meerkats, who act communally for the benefit of the groups in which they live. These groups are typically led by a dominant female and male, who maintain almost exclusive rights to have offspring.
The group followed most closely is known as the Whiskers family. This group was chosen because of its matriarch Flower, an unusually successful dominant female who led the group for five years.
During series three, Flower died from a snake bite and was succeeded by her daughter Rocket Dog.
Animals in neighbouring groups were highlighted in each series as well.
In the first series, a group called the Lazuli were shown frequently in competition with the Whiskers family, and the opening credits referred to them as the "neighbours from hell".
Although their dominant male
Big Si died between series, the Lazuli appeared in the second series, mostly as a source of roving males.
Another group called the Commandoes, led by a one-eyed male named Hannibal, introduced themselves by attacking the Lazuli burrow, killing a pup and badly wounding the babysitting adult. The Commandoes became the new major rivals in the area, killing the pups of evicted Whiskers female Mozart and taking over some of the Whiskers' territory.
The Whiskers' new neighbours were the Zappa and the Starsky.
Although smaller than the Whiskers, the Zappa attacked frequently, and when they fled after one attack, the Whiskers – in a rare occurrence – adopted an abandoned Zappa pup.
The Starsky group, on the other hand, was no threat to the Whiskers. Formed by a trio of Flower's daughters permanently evicted from the Whiskers, the small group was ravaged by illness, predators, and a lack of new pups.
The constantly struggling Starsky succumbed in the penultimate episode, with the death of the last survivor, Mozart, who was killed by a
jackal
Jackals are medium-sized canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed ...
.
Former Whiskers female
Maybelline
Maybelline New York (formerly The Maybelline Company and Mabelline and Co.), trading as Maybelline ( ), is an American multinational cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company, based in New York City. It was founded in Chicago ...
broke away from the group at the end of the third series, forming a new group called the
Aztecs which became the Whiskers' rivals in the fourth series.
Changes in representation
While the show portrays real events among the Kalahari Meerkats, it also removes repetitive elements of the animals' lives. Because many days are filled with behaviour related to grooming and foraging, these routines were often left out of the show in favour of more unusual events.
The meerkats are all named by Kalahari Meerkat volunteers; the individual who first sees a new litter emerge from the burrow is awarded naming rights. This has produced a variety of names, frequently drawn from volunteers' favourite books, movies, musical groups, family and friends, historical figures and geographical locations.
Animal Planet sometimes renamed the meerkats for narration, arguing that researchers' names were too limited, often relating to spices and food condiments.
Because of these changes, fans of the series who seek information on the Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project website sometimes have trouble locating particular animals. The project has created a list of alterations to help viewers connect the animals on the show to their real-life counterparts, and to match episodes to the monthly KMP Life History reports. The list, however, is only available to paying members of their website.
Two of the major Whiskers family rivals were composites, created with footage and blended stories from multiple groups. For example, the Commandoes group on the show uses some of events from the real Commandoes group, but was primarily shown with footage from the Vivian research group – including its dominant couple.
Similarly, the show's Zappa group was mostly presented using footage from a group called "The Young Ones" (named after the
British television show); however, the actual story and dominant pair were from the real Zappa Group.
Axel, the abandoned pup from series three, has a research number that indicates he was probably a Young Ones pup, rather than being a Zappa as the show claims.
Reception
''Meerkat Manor'' has been well received by viewers and critics alike. In October 2007, it was Animal Planet's top series, with an audience of more than four million in the United States alone.
In the United States, its first episode was viewed by one million viewers, and the second and third series premieres were watched by approximately 800,000 viewers each. The fourth series premiere did not fare as well, with fewer than 500,000 viewers. The viewership of the
on-demand video offerings for ''Meerkat Manor'' grew 20% in September 2007, when Discovery offered each third series episode, video capsules of series one and two, top ten moments from the show, and a memorial sequence for Flower. Building on the success of ''Meerkat Manor's'' unique format, Animal Planet commissioned two similarly formatted programmes: ''
Orangutan Island'', which focuses on a group of orphaned
orangutan
Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genu ...
s at the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, and ''
Lemur Street'', which looks at the lives of two rival gangs of
ring-tailed lemurs in
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
.
Some fans have criticized the show for its non-interference policy with regard to the meerkats, asking why the film crew and researchers do not give
anti-venom
Anti-Venom is a fictional antihero appearing in Comic books published by Marvel Comics. It first appeared in '' The Amazing Spider-Man'' #569 (August 2008), and was created by Dan Slott and John Romita Jr. The creature belongs to a race of amorp ...
to snake-bitten meerkats, or
euthanize
Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering.
Different countries have different eutha ...
those dying and suffering.
US Executive Producer Mick Kaczorowski pointed out that ''Meerkat Manor'' was a show about the real lives and deaths of the meerkats. The research group has a policy against film crews interceding in natural events "because they don't want to have an effect on the gene pool by saving a weaker meerkat
raffecting the outcome of what's natural in the Kalahari."
As the research project is monitoring "...the breeding success and survival of individuals and ... the factors that affect reproduction and survival" interfering in the natural processes would render the research results invalid.
There is one exception to this rule: researchers will euthanize meerkats that contract
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
, to prevent outbreaks that would threaten both the meerkat population and nearby cattle.
Awards
''Meerkat Manor'' was nominated for a 2005 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival Award in the "Animal Behaviour" category, and in 2007 for "Best Original Score".
At the 2006
Wildscreen Festival, the series was a finalist in three categories: "Animal Behaviour", "Innovation", and "Popular Broadcast".
The series won Gold Statues in "Natural History" and "Cinematography", and a Silver Statue for "Writing", at the 2006 Omni Awards.
The eighth episode of series three, "Journey's End" which depicts the death of Whiskers matriarch Flower, was awarded the 2008 Wildscreen Festival Panda Award in the "Five Award for Popular Broadcast Programme" category. ''Meerkat Manor'' was a two-time Gold Medal winner in the "Nature & Wildlife" category at the New York Festivals Award Gala, in 2006 for series one, and again in 2007 for series one and two.
The series was nominated for two
Primetime Emmy Awards in 2007, one for "Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming" and one for "Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming",
and again for "Outstanding Cinematography" in
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
.
[ In 2009 the series was awarded the Grand Award at the ]New York Festivals
New York Festivals, are a collection of related annual arts and media awards based in New York City. The awards include the New York Festivals Advertising Awards, "Advertising and Marketing Effectiveness" AME Awards, Bowery Awards, Global Awards, R ...
International Television Programming and Promotion Awards in the "Family Programmes" category.
Impact on the genre
''Meerkat Manor's'' innovative new methods of filming allowed the Kalahari Project scientists a chance to uncover aspects of meerkat life never before seen, including life within the burrows. The film crew was also the first to capture meerkat infanticide on film.
While many documentaries maintain an emotional distance from their subjects, ''Meerkat Manor'' – due to its extended length, soap opera-like narration, romanticization of the animals' lives, and close-up filming techniques, provides a closer, more personal view of the meerkats. Viewers describe being emotionally involved in the animals' lives, sometimes forgetting they are watching a documentary. The meerkats' frequently short lives and brutal deaths become surprising and disturbing to some audiences. This experimental format was seen as expanding the boundaries of both the nature documentary genre and the nature of reality TV.
Merchandise
A book written by Professor Tim Clutton-Brock
Timothy Hugh Clutton-Brock (born 13 August 1946) is a British zoologist known for his comparative studies of the behavioural ecology of mammals, particularly red deer and meerkats.[hardback
A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or occa ...]
edition on 4 October 2007. The book focuses on Flower's life and the story of the Whiskers, tracing how the group started, providing a timeline of Flower's life, and detailing all of the pups she had over her lifetime, as well as their current locations. The book also gives more background on how the Kalahari Meerkat Project started, the research goals and results, and researchers' personal lives. A paperback
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, ...
edition of the book was announced for release in the United States by Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...
through their Touchstone imprint on 15 April 2008. The US release was entitled ''Meerkat Manor: Flower of the Kalahari'' (). In November 2007, Discovery Communications announced that it was partnering with Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...
to make a video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
based on ''Meerkat Manor'' as the first in a new series of nature-based games. The announcement stated the game would be released to multiple platforms in late 2008, but no game was ever released.
Film
Oxford Scientific Films produced a feature film for Discovery Films that acts as a prequel to the ''Meerkat Manor'' series. Originally announced as ''Flower: Queen of the Kalahari'', ''Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins'' was directed by Chris Barker and Mike Slee and narrated by Whoopi Goldberg
Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...
. The film documents Flower's early life as she grows from a young meerkat to become one of the most successful leaders of the Whiskers clan. The film was introduced at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...
in the Spotlight section, and then aired in the United States on Animal Planet
Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily ...
on 25 May 2008 as a lead-in to a thirty-minute ''Making of Meerkat Manor: the Story Begins'' special. It was released to Region 1 DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
in North America on 3 June 2008, with the ''Making of Meerkat Manor'' special, and another special, ''The Science of Meerkat Manor'', included as extras.
The film included re-edited footage and a new musical score. The Whiskers story was simplified, with the Lazuli being the only rival group to appear in the film. Unlike with the ''Meerkat Manor'' series, the film does not actually depict any of the real Whiskers meerkats. Untrained "meerkat actors" play the role of Flower and her family, with the camera crew searching out appropriately-aged meerkats, then following them until the meerkats acted in a way that was needed for the film. Flower herself was depicted by approximately eight female meerkats.
References
External links
Official Southern Star Entertainment UK ''Meerkat Manor'' website
The Kalahari Meerkat Project
Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project
*
{{Meerkat Manor
2000s British documentary television series
2005 British television series debuts
2008 British television series endings
Animal Planet original programming
Nature educational television series
Television series about families
Television series about mammals