Monkey Business (TV series)
Monkey Business is a 1998 long-running TV series about the exploits of various primates who reside at Monkey World, a rescue centre and sanctuary for primates in Dorset, United Kingdom. The series features Jim and Dr. Alison Cronin, directors of Monkey World, as they travel around the world rescuing primates from lives of abuse, and returning them to Monkey World. Their goal is to rehabilitate the rescued primates and allow them to live in as natural a habitat as possible, being part of a group and living with friends of their own kind. The series was narrated by Chris Serle.
Jim Cronin, MBE lost his short battle with cancer on 17 March 2007 at Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan. Born and raised in New York Jim moved to England and worked at various animal parks/zoos, and then in 1987 he leased an old pig farm and converted it, with his long term friend Jeremy Keeling, into what is now a 65 acres (26 ha) sanctuary, Monkey World.
The series was made by Meridian Broadcasting and ran for 9 series on both ITV Meridian and Animal Planet. Previous season episodes can also sometimes be seen on National Geographic Channel. After ten years of successful production of Monkey Business, first filmed by Tigress and then Meridian ITV, Monkey Business culminated in a 3-part series called 10 Years of Monkey Business.
Monkey Life was created in 2006 by Primate Planet Productions Ltd. Shown on Five in the UK, and on Animal Planet and other channels worldwide, Monkey Life is now in its 7th series. The first series is narrated by Andy Serkis, famous for his voice as Gollum in Lord of the Rings. Series 2 - 6 are narrated by Ralf Little.
Human elements
Alison Cronin is owner of Monkey World. Along with running a zoo-like sanctuary, she also nurses and feeds the animals living there. However, the Animal Director is Jeremy Keeling.
Chimpanzees
There are several chimpanzees, divided in three groups. The Nursery group, consisting of matriarch Sally and several young chimpanzees, including Bryan rescued from Cancun, Mexico.
Alpha male Butch leads the Bachelor Boys, an all male group of chimps. One of their most famous residents was named Charlie, he was rescued by Jim Cronin from being a beach photographer's prop in Spain.
Paddy's group and Hananya's group are both family groups, and Bart is the youngest in Paddy's group. Politics within these groups determine how long each Male is leader.
Orang-utans
There are 3 orangutan groups. Tuan's group, Gordon's group and the Nursery group, looked after by foster mum A-mei. They are part of the international breeding program.
Other primates
At Monkey World, there are 16 different species of primates include woolly monkeys, capuchins, squirrel monkeys, marmosets, cotton-top tamarins, siamang gibbons, golden-cheeked gibbons and other gibbon species.
Monkey World is also part of the international species breeding program for golden-cheeked gibbons, orang-utans and woolly monkeys.
