The Ark: Survival of the Fittest

Molly Dineen reveals the inner workings of London Zoo as the institution is rocked by uncertainty and change in the first in a BAFTA-winning series of four films.

Survival of the Fittest is the first in a series of four films in which director Molly Dineen reveals the inner workings of London Zoo as the institution is rocked by uncertainty and change. Accompanying the zoo’s keepers, managers and various animal residents during a period of profound crisis, the series is a delightful, candid and moving portrait of the passions and pressures at work within this much-loved menagerie. The most enduring impact of the film comes from the smallest moments of intimacy between the keepers and their animal charges, in particular birdkeeper Steve and Josephine the hornbill, neither of whom has a place in the proposed downsized zoo.

Winner of Best Factual Series at the BAFTA TV Awards in 1993.