The Zoo — Season 1

It's the Zoo's annual inspection day, and this year it's serious. With the threat of closure looming for any enclosure that isn't up to scratch, all of the Zoo's animals scrub up to look their best and impress; the penguins are polished, the baboons are buffed and the tigers are tidied as the Zoo Inspector does his rounds and scores their presentation.Everything is looking good until evil genius monkey Brutus hatches an explosive plan to sabotage the inspection - and get Jürgen kicked out of the zoo forever.

Is the Zoo getting rich from selling the animals poo? After overhearing that zoo poo is ‘valuable', self-obsessed gorilla Jürgen is convinced the zoo's poo is being sold behind his back.To stop anyone cashing in, he calls a poo strike - no one is allowed to poo in the zoo. But as time passes it becomes more and more difficult for the animals to not give into the urge, and when a mystery poo is discovered the ‘No Poo Zoo' is gripped by a puzzling case of ‘Poodunnit'.

A mystery illness leaves Topaz the kangaroo (pictured) without a hop - and the vets scratching their heads.When Topaz is taken for treatment, rumours begin to spread around the Zoo that it could be ‘Uncle Nigel's Hoppitystophop' - a horrible condition that causes kangaroos to lose their ability top hop.Jealous of all the attention on Topaz, hapless gorilla and self-appointed leader of the zoo Jürgen conjures up an illness in need of treatment of his own. Diagnosed by fellow gorilla Geoffrey as "attention-seeker-itis" will he and Topaz ever recover?

Neil the wimpy lion is under pressure from his overbearing mother-in-law to ‘man up' and ‘get buff' - like previous alpha-male lion Maximus.To prove he too can be a powerful dominant male, Neil seeks out ways to improve his physique and, impressed by Jurgen's muscles, he decides to copy the gorilla and go ‘vegetarian'.The new veggie diet however, doesn't go down too well for carnivore Neil – he misses his meat with a ‘side order of meat' and despite his best efforts to ‘kill some carrots' his mother-in-law still isn't impressed. Poor Neil.

After being hand-reared, Yoyo the penguin is confused: he thinks he's a human.Thanks to his identity crisis he doesn't fit into either the human or penguin world, and just when it looks like things can't get much worse, all his feathers start falling out.Cast away as a ugly misfit all hope seems lost, but what appears a curse turns out to be a blessing in disguise when Yoyo returns to Penguin Beach completely transformed.

Mysterious monsters are rumoured to be lurking in Flamingo Lagoon and keeper Pete Smallbones is on a mission to prove to the zoo that the monsters are real. The keepers and animals all think that Pete is making it up, until Sid the seagull mysteriously disappears. Could Pete be telling the truth? Meanwhile, over on gorilla island, Jurgen and the boys are having to deal with an invasion of their own as Komodo rabbits and strangen rodents start appearing in their enclosure.

It's the day of the zoo's annual stock take. As all the animals get ready to be counted, a group of tiny frogs take the opportunity to escape to Paris. Meanwhile, Jurgen has misinterpreted the stocktake - thinking the counts are scores out of ten. The four gorillas 'scored' only four in the previous stocktake, so he imposes a strict training regime to get the gorillas into shape for a higher score this year. His workout plan gets cut short however, when a rumour surfaces that the escapee amphibians may actually be deadly. Will the zoo ever be safe again?

Who is the most popular animal at the zoo? There's only one way to find out - by counting which cuddly toy sells the most in the gift shop of course! To find the winner, all of the zoo animals go head to head in an ultimate talent contest - the tapirs sing, the orangutans use their circus skills and the baboons try their hand at stand-up comedy. Everyone's sales are up except the gorillas, so in a last ditch attempt to boost their popularity, Geoffrey plays his enchanting 'nose-flute' - but it will it be enough to impress the public, or will an unsuspecting animal win the popularity contest?

Naomi the grey gibbon and Gambira the orangutan share and island but famously don't get on. Naomi likes everything to be clean and tidy, while Gambira is messy with poor personal hygiene. Everyday they shout and chase each other - until one day Naomi mysteriously disappears. At first, Gambira can't believe her luck - she finally has the place to herself without her bossy roommate, but then Jurgen the gorilla decides he's moving in and Gambira begins to miss her old island buddy. Was Naomi really that bad?

With their constant yelling and arguing, the baboons are giving the entire zoo a headache. The constant commotion is keeping Jenny the lion awake, making Mani the rhino's ears ring and it's stopping gorilla Jurgen from reading his 'book'. With all the zoo's animals at breaking point, the pressure is mounting on baboon keeper Kate to keep her pesky primates happy and quiet. Most of her presents and tricks backfire spectacularly, making the bothersome baboons even more noisy, but finally she stumbles on something unexpected that keeps them very quiet indeed.

The arrival of two new lion cubs at the zoo has whipped all the residents into a frenzy of cuteness. All that is, except their terrified father Neil and jealous gorilla Jurgen. While Neil is terrified that he doesn't have what it takes to be a good dad to his two newborn cubs, Jurgen is worried the cute cubs will take the public's attention away from him. While Neil grapples which what it takes to be a dad, Jurgen is busy thinking up ways to win back the publics affections by getting 'cute'.

The army is called in to help with some major renovations around the zoo. Jurgen the gorilla immediately assumes the extra muscle power is to help build his new luxury gymnasium, complete with hot tub and juice bar. But miniature megalomaniac monkey, Brutus, has other plans for the army - he wants their help to build his 'Death-ray of World Domination' - but will either of their demands be met?

The flamingos are moving to a new enclosure which inspires silverback gorilla Jurgen to think about upgrading his already massive enclosure, too. Meanwhile, the keepers wrangle the flapping, flamboyant flamingos and transporting them across the zoo before it opens. With the flamingos moved out, the ducks set to work renaming Flamingo Lagoon, Duck Lagoon - but can they deter Jurgen from wanting to move in with them?

In this special episode, silverback gorilla Jurgen introduces us to the human faces of the zoo, talking us through all the fascinating jobs done by the keepers and the vets. Or at least that's what he's supposed to do... His most valuable insights about the humans is that they have 'dangly arms', say hello a lot and can count. But luckily Geoffrey steps in with some useful information about the expert keeping and veterinary staff that look after the animals.

The hunt is on for a new mascot. A popular, photogenic animal to publicise the zoo. Jurgen the gorilla obviously thinks it should be him, but the series narrator wants to meet all the residents, before deciding who the face of the zoo will be. With senior head keeper, Matt away at dancercise classes, Jurgen steps in as a 'knowledgeable guide' to introduce each of the animals - giving his less than accurate opinions along the way.