''Big Cat Diary'', also known as ''Big Cat Week'' or ''Big Cat Live'', is a long-running

nature documentary A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or television documentary, series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures. Nature documentaries usually concentrate on video taken in the subject's nat ...

series on

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television which followed the lives of African

big cat The term "big cat" is typically used to refer to any of the five living members of the genus ''Panthera'', namely the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard. All cats descend from the ''Felidae'' family, sharing similar musculature, c ...

s in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Maasai Mara Maasai Mara, sometimes also spelt Masai Mara and locally known simply as The Mara, is a large national game reserve in Narok County, Kenya, contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. It is named in honour of the Maasai people, th ...

. The first series, broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

in 1996, was developed and jointly produced by

Keith Scholey Keith Scholey (born 24 June 1957 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) is a British producer of nature documentary, nature documentaries for television and cinema, and a former television executive. He is currently a joint Director of Silverback Films Ltd ...

, who would go on to become Head of the BBC's Natural History Unit. Eight series have followed, most recently ''Big Cat Live'', a live broadcast from the Mara in 2008. The original presenters, Jonathan Scott and Simon King, were joined by

Saba Douglas-Hamilton Saba Iassa Douglas-Hamilton (born 7 June 1970) is a Kenyan wildlife conservationist and television presenter. She has worked for a variety of conservation charities, and has appeared in wildlife documentaries produced by the BBC and other bro ...

from 2002 onwards.

Kate Silverton Kate Silverton (born 4 August 1970) is an English child therapist. She formerly worked as a broadcaster and newsreader for the BBC. Silverton was a regular presenter of ''BBC News at One'' and '' BBC Weekend News'', as well as making occasiona ...

and

Jackson Looseyia Jackson Saigilu Ole Looseyia (born 1967 in Masai Mara in Kenya) is the son of a hunter gatherer and presenter on the BBC show '' Big Cat Live''. He maintains a blog documenting his guide and documentary work. He contributed to the grasslands e ...

were added to the presenting team for ''Big Cat Live''.

Merchandise

Currently available on Region 2 DVD are the 2004, 2005 and 2006 series of ''Big Cat Week'' (packaged as series 1 to 3, with series 1 and 2 being packaged together), the 2007 series of ''Big Cat Diary'' (packaged as series 4 of ''Big Cat Week'') and highlights from ''Big Cat Live'' (packaged as ''Big Cat Special''). There is also a trilogy of books written by Jonathan and Angela Scott, with each focusing on the stories concerning the lions, cheetahs and leopards of the ''Big Cat Diary'' format of the show. In 2012, Seasons 1 and 2 of the original ''Big Cat Diary'' show was made available to download on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

's Instant Video services. These episodes are DVD quality or better; however, no DVD or any other physical media are available for these two seasons. Additionally, Seasons 3 and 4 of the original ''Big Cat Diary'' series are not available at all as of August 2012. The name and format of the show has changed several times. The following table illustrates the TV air dates and DVD release dates (if applicable) of each of the seasons.

References

External links

* * {{BBC Natural History Unit 1990s British documentary television series 1996 British television series debuts 2000s British documentary television series 2008 British television series endings Animal Planet original programming BBC television documentaries Films set in Kenya Television series about lions