The Zoo

A Perspective

By Annie Murray 31/08/2017

Popular series The Zoo was filmed behind the scenes at Auckland Zoo. It tells stories featuring some of the zoo's 900+ animals, plu their vets and keepers. Events such as the opening of the new hippo enclosure, introducing new rhinos to one other and seeing a tiger give birth, are naturally fascinating, and Colin Hogg's lively script-editing crafts them into compelling reality television.

The Zoo educates subtly whilst entertaining. Viewers learn how to weigh a tiger, and why keepers speak to elephants in a combination of German and Sri Lankan. Viewers can relate to the menagerie's melodramas, and sympathise with Nisha the Sumatran tiger's monthly mood swings and the cheeky cotton-top tamarins who don't want to go home after a big day out. 

The show's gently educational style is spotted with touches of humour. A new electric fence gives the writer carte blanche to go wild: "There's a shocking problem with the electric fence...but some bright spark has fixed it". Such flourishes combine with beautiful cinematography and a wealth of information to make for an eminently watchable programme.

The Zoo's liveliness means it is able to highlight the strong bonds between humans and other animals, while also delivering subtle conservation messages. The changing role of the zoo (conservation and education, rather than just exhibition) is highlighted. For example, whio (blue duck) reared at the zoo are shown being released back into the wild; the stunning river images are contrasted with scenes of a dead rat and stoat killed in traps that were designed to protect them.

Such assured family-friendly fare made The Zoo a long-running hit for both Greenstone (it was one of the company's first ventures into ongoing documentary shows) and TVNZ (it was first commissioned by TVNZ Commissioner Geoff Steven. The Zoo enjoyed high ratings, sold to over 90 countries worldwide, and was named  Favourite Documentary Series by TV Guide readers for seven years running. 

The show's popularity inspired several spin-off programmes and compilations: Zoo Babies (2002 and 2005), three seasons of Wild Vets (2009-2011), Two by Two at the Zoo, Trent's Wild Cat Adventures (2006, featuring Auckland Zoo carnivore keeper Trent Barclay) and The Zoo: This is Your Life (2010), which profiled five of the zoo's most beloved animals. Several Best of The Zoo compilations were also produced, including a 10-episode series of highlights from the series condensed into 30-minute episodes, and three DVD releases featuring highlights from seasons one through nine.

The appropriately named Andrea Lamb was key to shaping the series in its early days. Along with Kathryn Moore, she directed and produced five seasons, before becoming Greenstone's Head of Production. Another key creative was script editor Colin Hogg, who wrote most of the early seasons. He also wrote book The Zoo: Meet the Locals (2000), which won the Non-Fiction category of the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards.

- Annie Murray has been a writer, television executive, and Chief Executive of the NZ Film Commission.