Animal Park Christmas Special

Original version

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Animal Park

Factual: Pets & Animals

Kate Humble and Ben Fogle go behind the scenes at Longleat Safari Park.

Cute critters and caring keepers. Kate Humble and Ben Fogle explore Longleat Safari Park, meeting a host of exotic, fascinating animals and the people who look after them.

Christmas 2022

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Kate Humble

Ben Fogle

Hamza Yassin

Megan McCubbin

Alastair Bazeley-Bell

Joff Wilson

Remarkable TV

Animal Park: Christmas 2022: Episode 2

Episode 2

BBC One - Animal Park, Christmas 2022, Episode 2

Hamza Yassin investigates a family bust-up in the meerkat enclosure.

Hamza Yassin investigates a family bust-up in the meerkat enclosure, and Megan McCubbin finds out what the animals make of our British Christmas traditions.

It’s time to deck the halls because Ben Fogle and Kate Humble are heading back to Longleat Safari Park for a magical week of programmes. 

Harry the lion has a problem that could ruin his Christmas - he has broken one of his enormous canine teeth. The keepers have called in renowned dentist Peter Emily, whose plan is to perform root canal work on Harry, but to get close to his lethal jaws, they first need to knock Harry out with a sedative. Once he is asleep, the team can get to work, but just as the operation starts, Harry stops breathing, leaving everyone hoping for a Christmas miracle.
 
Christmas can cause the occasional family rift, and it’s no different down at the meerkat enclosure. Hailing from the Kalahari desert, meerkats live in matriarchal societies, so the ladies are in charge, and the keepers suspect a change at the top – 12-year-old Cassie may have been usurped by her daughter Harley. A group of meerkats is known as a mob and that’s exactly what they have turned into with all the infighting, so the keepers have called in wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin to see if there has indeed been a power shift. 

The keepers have everything crossed for a white Christmas because animals such as the red pandas and Amur tigers have special adaptations to thrive in snowy conditions. While they wait to see if the park will become a magical winter wonderland this year, Lord and Lady Bath reminisce about past years when snow fell at the park.

Megan McCubbin is on hand to deliver presents and treats to animals that originate from all over the world, so what will they make of our British Christmas traditions? Will the anteaters from South America manage to break into a Christmas cracker, and what does an Australian wallaby make of a brussels sprout?

Animal Park: Christmas 2022

BBC One

A series of Christmas specials from Longleat Safari Park.

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Christmas 2022

Episode 2

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