We are family
Sir David Attenborough lends his voice to Kingdom, a new six-part documentary that follows four African animal families across five years, in a remote river valley in Zambia. Meet the stars of the show…
BBC Studios/Alex Board
- Robin Parker
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Lions: Rita and Cubs
BBC Studios/Juliette Martineau
Simon Blakeney, series editor
“We follow the pride as it coheres, and they collectively become an increasingly powerful force. But the moment lions have cubs, they suddenly become incredibly vulnerable. As the mothers go off elsewhere to look after their offspring, the pride loses its protection. And while Rita’s off hunting, something terrible happens.
“This to and fro is the truth of the natural world. They’re big powerful predators but, like all the animals, they have their areas of weakness.”
Leopards: Olimba, Moyo and Mutima
BBC Studios/Edward Selfe
Felicity Lanchester, series producer
“Early on in the shoot, we were filming a pair of hippos when the leopard family we’d been searching for all day emerged from the bush. One of the cubs, Moyo, creeps closer and closer as the hippo gets grumpier and grumpier, while the other cub, Mutima, relaxes in a hippo’s footprint!
“Olimba has been in the area for more than ten years and is a wonderful mother who has successfully raised cubs before. Chaos happens around her. Over five years, we see the mother/daughter relationship between Olimba and Mutima break down and the physical battle between them. It’s a succession story as the initially shy Mutima becomes as wise and strong as her mother.”
Wild dogs: Led by Storm
BBC Studios/Anna Place
Anna Place, producer
“We’re used to seeing wild dogs fall in line to chase prey. But with this pack, if one of them spots something, 20 of them will run off in different directions at 40mph. It’s chaos — one chases a baboon up a tree, others go after an antelope. I love their persistence; they just keep going! We see them swim across a river, which I don’t think has been shown before.
“Every dog counts. They can’t survive alone, or in small packs. You see how social they are, how they look after and care for each other — as soon as they wake up they’re playing, wagging their tails. They were fabulous to film. I loved being an honorary wild dog!”
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Hyenas: Tandala and family
Felicity Lanchester, series producer
“Hyena clans have looser bonds than wild dogs — they opt in and out. When we meet Tandala, she’s pregnant and alone, hiding her food from predators; later, the hyenas group together to eat a buffalo carcass. At their communal den, cubs play with young baboons. But the parents don’t look after each other’s cubs; when one cub loses its mother, the others ignore it. We were surprised by how much non-predators — baboons, mongooses, warthogs — adored the hyenas. You’d expect a ricochet of alarm calls, but they were relaxed in their company.”
Authors
Robin Parker
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