The Ark: Tooth and Claw

The fourth and final episode in documentary filmmaker Molly Dineen’s BAFTA-winning series The Ark.

Tooth and Claw is the final episode in a series of four films in which director Molly Dineen reveals the inner workings of London Zoo as the institution is rocked by uncertainty and change. The crisis comes to a head, as we witness the nastiness of the conflict between those with an agenda and those with a mission – the management versus the reform group (an alliance of keepers and sympathetic fellows) who seek to oust them.

The high tensions and competing factions are punctuated by glimpses into everyday goings-on at the zoo and by the running commentary of the series' unassuming seer, Dave Robinson, senior keeper of tropical birds. As he watches crows caw-cawing in the tall trees of Regent’s Park he pronounces, darkly, ‘the scavengers are gathering to pick over the bones’. Winner of Best Factual Series at the BAFTA TV Awards in 1993.