Zoo Quest is a series of multi-part nature documentaries broadcast on the BBC Television Service between 1954 and 1963. It was the first major programme to feature David Attenborough.
In each series, Attenborough travelled with staff from London Zoo to a tropical country to capture an animal for the zoo's collection (the accepted practice at the time). Although the programme was structured around the quest for the animal, it also featured film of other wildlife in the area and of the local people and their customs. Attenborough introduced each programme from the studio and then narrated the film his team had shot on location. At the end of each series, the animals the team had captured were introduced in the studio, where experts from the zoo discussed them.
With the exception of the original 1954 series (which survives as edited compilations repeated the following year), all episodes of Zoo Quest exist in the BBC Archives. The series was the most popular wildlife programme of its time in Britain, and established Attenborough's career as a nature documentary presenter.
Production
The seed for Zoo Quest was sown when Attenborough produced and presented a three-part nature programme, The Pattern of Animals, in the early 1950s. While researching animals for this programme, he befriended Jack Lester, the curator of the reptile house at London Zoo. Lester invited Attenborough to come along and film an expedition to Sierra Leone. In addition to capturing snakes for the zoo, Lester hoped to catch a white-necked rockfowl (Picathartes gymnocephalus), which had never been kept in a European zoo before. Attenborough, whose previous programmes had been studio-bound, was eager for a chance to film animals in the wild. He also thought the quest for the bird would make a compelling central story for the series. Attenborough and Lester were soon joined by a young Czech photographer, Charles Lagus, who would be Attenborough's cameraman and travelling companion throughout Zoo Quest'''s run. The team overcame the objections of BBC management to film the trip on 16mm film instead of the 35mm film that was then the corporation's standard. As a result, colour film stock was used, as it gave the best picture quality for the format. (The BBC did not begin colour broadcasting until 1967.)
The original plan was for Lester to present the studio portion of the programme, while Attenborough produced it. However, Lester developed an unknown tropical disease soon after returning from Africa, and was able to present only one installment before being taken into hospital. (After several recurrences of this illness Lester died in 1956 at the age of 47.) Because the programme had already been scheduled, Attenborough took over the presenter's role.
The first series, called simply Zoo Quest, gained viewers with each episode, and Attenborough found himself being stopped in the street and asked 'Are you going to catch that bird or not?'. Six sequels followed, each named according to its theme. For example, Zoo Quest for a Dragon featured the first ever television footage of the Komodo dragon, while Quest for the Paradise Birds was centred on the birds-of-paradise of New Guinea.
Attenborough wrote a book to accompany each series except the first. The books were later reprinted in abridged form as a two-volume set in the 1980s. Lagus also wrote two books inspired by the programme: Operation Noah's Ark and Benjamin, the Zoo Quest Bear.By the time Quest Under Capricorn was completed, Attenborough felt that the series had run its course. The practice of catching wild animals for zoos had also begun to fall out of favour as zoos became more aware of their environmental impact. (Today London Zoo only captures animals in the wild if a species is so endangered that a captive breeding programme is its only hope.) Attenborough spent the next eight years as an administrator, rising to become Controller of Programming of both BBC 1 and 2, at the BBC before returning to full-time programme-making with Eastwards with Attenborough in 1973.
Several episodes of Zoo Quest and Quest Under Capricorn are available to view on the BBC iPlayer Archives section.
Series
Zoo Quest (1954) Zoo Quest to Guiana (1955) 6 episodes Zoo Quest to West Africa (1955) 1 episode Zoo Quest for a Dragon (1956) 6 episodes Quest for the Paradise Birds (1957) 6 episodes Zoo Quest in Paraguay (1959) 6 episodes Zoo Quest to Madagascar (1961) 5 episodes Quest Under Capricorn (1963) 6 episodes