Animal Magic: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Animal Magic was a BBC children's television series which ran from 1962 to 1983 from BBC Bristol. It began fortnightly and was transmitted weekly from 1964. The presenter was the avuncular Johnny Morris.

Morris' co-presenters over the years were: Gerald Durrell, Tony Soper, Keith Shackleton, Roger Tabor, Sheila Young, David Taylor and Terry Nutkins. When Nutkins joined the show in the early 1980s, the producers tried to update it, using new video effects technology. This allowed them to do such things as "shrink" the presenters to allow them to see life from an ant's viewpoint, or to swim in a riverbed for example. Dottie the ring-tailed lemur appeared as a regular guest for eight years in the 1970s. Much to Morris' anger, the show was discontinued in 1983 when the programme's anthropomorphic treatment of animals fell out of fashion.

The 100th edition was transmitted on 4 January 1967.

Series details

• Title: Animal Magic
• Format: Reality
• Language: English
• Genres: Adventure, Children, Nature
• Premiere date: 1962-04-13
• Final broadcast date listed: 1983-09-06
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: BBC One
• Network country: United Kingdom
• TVMaze ID: 8489
• IMDb ID: tt0201375
• TVDB ID: 320338

Cast and credited roles

• Johnny Morris — Presenter
• Keith Shackleton — Co-Presenter
• Tony Soper — Co-Presenter
• Terry Nutkins — Co-Presenter
• David Taylor — Co-Presenter
• Sheila Young — Co-Presenter
• Gerald Durrell — Co-Presenter
• Roger Tabor — Co-Presenter

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1962-04-13; final listed air date 1962-08-03; episode order: 8.
• Season 2: premiered 1962-09-26; final listed air date 1962-12-19; episode order: 7.
• Season 3: premiered 1963-02-19; final listed air date 1963-06-04; episode order: 12.
• Season 4: premiered 1963-09-03; final listed air date 1963-10-10; episode order: 6.
• Season 5: premiered 1964-01-01; final listed air date 1964-02-05; episode order: 6.
• Season 6: premiered 1964-04-01; final listed air date 1964-06-24; episode order: 13.
• Season 7: premiered 1964-10-07; final listed air date 1965-03-23; episode order: 13.
• Season 8: premiered 1965-08-10; final listed air date 1965-11-02; episode order: 12.
• Season 9: premiered 1966-04-06; final listed air date 1966-06-29; episode order: 13.
• Season 10: premiered 1966-11-02; final listed air date 1967-01-25; episode order: 13.
• Season 11: premiered 1967-03-29; final listed air date 1967-06-28; episode order: 14.
• Season 12: premiered 1967-09-27; final listed air date 1967-12-20; episode order: 13.
• Season 13: premiered 1968-03-27; final listed air date 1968-06-19; episode order: 13.
• Season 14: premiered 1968-10-02; final listed air date 1969-01-15; episode order: 15.
• Season 15: premiered 1969-04-23; final listed air date 1969-07-16; episode order: 13.
• Season 16: premiered 1969-11-25; final listed air date 1970-02-10; episode order: 12.
• Season 17: premiered 1970-06-23; final listed air date 1970-09-15; episode order: 13.
• Season 18: premiered 1970-11-24; final listed air date 1971-02-16; episode order: 13.
• Season 19: premiered 1971-05-04; final listed air date 1971-07-20; episode order: 12.
• Season 20: premiered 1971-09-14; final listed air date 1971-12-07; episode order: 13.
• Season 21: premiered 1972-04-11; final listed air date 1972-07-04; episode order: 13.
• Season 22: premiered 1972-09-12; final listed air date 1972-11-28; episode order: 12.
• Season 23: premiered 1973-04-03; final listed air date 1973-06-26; episode order: 13.
• Season 24: premiered 1973-09-25; final listed air date 1973-12-18; episode order: 13.
• Season 25: premiered 1974-04-23; final listed air date 1974-07-16; episode order: 13.
• Season 26: premiered 1974-09-24; final listed air date 1974-12-17; episode order: 13.
• Season 27: premiered 1975-04-29; final listed air date 1975-07-22; episode order: 13.
• Season 28: premiered 1975-09-16; final listed air date 1975-12-09; episode order: 13.
• Season 29: premiered 1976-05-11; final listed air date 1976-08-03; episode order: 13.
• Season 30: premiered 1976-09-28; final listed air date 1976-12-21; episode order: 13.

Source and licence

Adapted from Animal Magic on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.