Last Chance to See (TV series)

Last Chance to See
Title card from the "Kakapo" episode
Genre	Nature documentary
Presented by	Stephen Fry Mark Carwardine
Composer(s)	David Ayers, Felix Tod
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	6
Production
Executive producer(s)	Sam Organ, André Singer
Producer(s)	Tim Green
Location(s)	New Zealand Brazil Madagascar Indonesia Malaysia Mexico Kenya Uganda
Running time	60 minutes
Production company(s)	BBC Wales, West Park Pictures
Release
Original network	BBC Two
Picture format	16:9 (HDTV)
Original release	6 September – 18 October 2009
External links
Website

Last Chance to See is a wildlife documentary first broadcast on BBC Two in the United Kingdom during September and October 2009. The series is a follow-up of the radio series, also called Last Chance to See, in which Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine set out to find endangered animals. In this updated television version, produced for the BBC, Stephen Fry and Carwardine revisit the animals originally featured to see how they're getting on almost 20 years later.

In one episode, a male kakapo, called Sirocco, mounts and attempts to mate with Carwardine's head. Sirocco found fame after the video of his antics became an internet hit, and was later anointed as New Zealand's "spokesbird for conservation".

A Last Chance to See special called "Return of the Rhino" was broadcast on BBC Two on 31 October 2010. The programme followed four of the last remaining northern white rhinos as they were transferred from Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic to Ol Pejeta Conservancy, a protected reserve in Kenya, in a last-ditch attempt to save the subspecies from extinction.

The main aim of each episode was to seek out an endangered species and to investigate its plight. In addition, a variety of other animals are filmed on location all over the world.

In the opening programme, Fry and Carwardine travel to Manaus in Brazil in search of the Amazonian manatee. Hunting has reduced wild manatee numbers to a few thousand individuals. On the Rio Negro, they have an encounter with a group of endangered botos, which take food from their hands. The two fly deeper into the forest to rendezvous with a boat, the Cassiquiari, on the Rio Aripuanã. Further upriver, they meet scientist Marc van Roosmalen and his team. Manatees are known to live in the vicinity, but despite searching the river and surrounding lakes, they fail to encounter the species in the wild. Carwardine takes Fry to INPA in Manaus, where captive manatees are kept for research. At Tefé, west of Manaus, they plan to join Miriam Rosenthal and her Mamirauá team on a trip to release an injured one-year-old manatee back into the wild. However, on the morning of their departure, Fry trips and breaks his arm in three places. After Fry is evacuated for medical attention, Carwardine reunites with the Mamirauá project. The manatee is transferred to a purpose-built enclosure in a remote river community before full release. By engaging local people, the team hope to foster an enthusiasm for conserving the species.