''The Zoo'' is a British children's mockumentary television series broadcast on

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

. Produced by

BBC Studios BBC Studios is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Worldwide. ...

and

DHX Media WildBrain Ltd. (formerly known as DHX Media, Ltd.) is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest library of children ...

, the series follows the daily life of animals at

Paignton Zoo Paignton Zoo is a zoo in Paignton, Devon, England. The zoo is part of South West Environmental Parks Ltd which is owned by the charity Wild Planet Trust, formerly known as the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust. The charity also runs Newquay ...

and

Living Coasts Living Coasts was a coastal zoo at the site of Torquay Marine Spa in Devon, England. It was owned by South West Environmental Parks as part of the Wild Planet Trust, formerly known as Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust, which also operates Newq ...

with a comic twist after they have been given human voices and computer-generated mouths. It is also being aired on ABC Me and 7TWO in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and Family Channel and Family CHRGD in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. 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. 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

and

. The animals were given human voices and computer-generated mouths. Lewis Macleod, Jess Robinson, Richard David-Caine,

Jake Pratt Jake Stephen Pratt (born 25 September 1996) is an English actor. He entered the public eye when he appeared on the first series of the ITV1 television show ''Britain's Got Talent'' in June 2007 where he reached the semi-finals, and lost a place ...

and Stuart Garlick voice these animals. Animals are sometimes given accents like the

giraffe The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa''. It is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. Traditionally, giraffes were thought to be one species, ''Giraffa camelopardalis ...

penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

s and

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

s 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

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zoo (2017 Tv Series), The 2017 British television series debuts 2010s British children's television series British comedy television shows BBC high definition shows BBC children's television shows English-language television shows Television series by DHX Media Television series by BBC Studios British television series with live action and animation