I Am Not an Animal
Encyclopedia
I Am Not an Animal is an animated comedy
series
telling the tale of highly intelligent animals rescued from a vivisection
ist laboratory and forced to live on their own. The series was made and directed by Peter Baynham
. It was produced by Baby Cow Productions
and ran on BBC2 in the United Kingdom
from 10 May to 14 June 2004. It has also aired on the ABC
in Australia
.
The title comes from the famous quote in The Elephant Man
.
The animals are given a sophisticated lifestyle in order for them to develop their intellect, living a luxurious life run by computer
s in something similar to a four-star hotel, unaware they are really part of a laboratory experiment. They have human-like personalities and names, wear specially designed clothes, speak in a pseudo-intellectual fashion, eat gourmet food, drink fine wines, read books and magazines and generally live like humans in luxury. Meanwhile, the other animals outside Project S are tortured with horrific experiments.
The animals in the experiment include:
A group of animal rights
activists break into the laboratory to rescue the animals. Kieron is left behind, having his head removed from the rest of his body and being kept alive by machines. As the other animals are boarded into the activists' truck they don't know what's going on, and are joined by Niall (voiced by Arthur Mathews
), a rabbit
from an earlier batch of Project S which can only speak computer advice.
When one of the animals asks the activists if they will be stopping for a toilet break, they panic and crash the truck into a tree. The animals escape, and go their separate ways. After running into humans who are shocked, and other animals who can't speak like they do, they deduce they have somehow been transported into an alternate reality where only humans can speak and the other animals are enslaved by them (a reference to Planet of the Apes).
Meanwhile, Vivi-Sec UK graft Kieron's head onto the body of a gorilla
and send him out to assassinate the other animals. Vivi-Sec UK also alerts the media that dangerous talking animals are on the loose.
The animals take shelter in an elderly lady's house, who calls her psychiatrist
to tell him that there are talking animals at her house. Believing the elderly lady to have lost her mind, he has the medics take her away, leaving the animals to live in her house.
Television comedy
Television comedy had a presence from the earliest days of broadcasting. Among the earliest BBC television programmes in the 1930s was Starlight, which offered a series of guests from the music hall era — singers and comedians amongst them...
series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
telling the tale of highly intelligent animals rescued from a vivisection
Vivisection
Vivisection is defined as surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure...
ist laboratory and forced to live on their own. The series was made and directed by Peter Baynham
Peter Baynham
Peter Baynham is a screenwriter and a British comedian, writer, and performer. He often collaborates with Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris and has worked with Stewart Lee and Richard Herring. He is first heard on Morris' early radio DJ slots, often going out to places...
. It was produced by Baby Cow Productions
Baby Cow Productions
Baby Cow Productions Ltd is a UK comedy television production company established in 1999 by Steve Coogan and Henry Normal based in London and Manchester. It has since diversified into radio, animation and film. In 2008, BBC Worldwide bought a 25% stake in the company...
and ran on BBC2 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
from 10 May to 14 June 2004. It has also aired on the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
The title comes from the famous quote in The Elephant Man
The Elephant Man (film)
The Elephant Man is a 1980 American drama film based on the true story of Joseph Merrick , a severely deformed man in 19th century London...
.
Story
In the laboratory Vivi-Sec UK, a group of six animals are part of the fourth batch of Project S, an experiment designed to create talking animals.The animals are given a sophisticated lifestyle in order for them to develop their intellect, living a luxurious life run by computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
s in something similar to a four-star hotel, unaware they are really part of a laboratory experiment. They have human-like personalities and names, wear specially designed clothes, speak in a pseudo-intellectual fashion, eat gourmet food, drink fine wines, read books and magazines and generally live like humans in luxury. Meanwhile, the other animals outside Project S are tortured with horrific experiments.
The animals in the experiment include:
- Philip Masterson-Bowie the horseHorseThe horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
(voiced by Steve CooganSteve CooganStephen John "Steve" Coogan is a British comedian, actor, writer and producer. Born in Manchester, he began his career as a standup comedian and impressionist, working as a voice artist throughout the 1980s on satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In the early nineties, Coogan began creating...
) - Winona Matthews the pit bullPit bullA Pit bull is any of several breeds of dog in the molosser breed group.Many jurisdictions that restrict pit bulls, including Ontario, Canada,, Miami, Florida, U.S...
(voiced by Amelia BullmoreAmelia BullmoreAmelia Bullmore is an English actress and writer. She was born in London and studied drama at the University of Manchester. Bullmore started working as an actor but turned to writing in 1995...
) - Hugh Gape the monkeyMonkeyA monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
(voiced by Kevin Eldon) - Claire Franchetti the ratRatRats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
(voiced by Julia DavisJulia DavisJulia Davis is an English comedy writer and performer, best known for writing and starring in the BBC Three comedy Nighty Night.-Background:...
) - Mark Andrews (aka Glen Belt) the sparrowSparrowThe sparrows are a family of small passerine birds, Passeridae. They are also known as true sparrows, or Old World sparrows, names also used for a genus of the family, Passer...
(also voiced by Steve Coogan) - Kieron the catCatThe cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
(voiced by Simon PeggSimon PeggSimon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and stared in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film...
)
A group of animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
activists break into the laboratory to rescue the animals. Kieron is left behind, having his head removed from the rest of his body and being kept alive by machines. As the other animals are boarded into the activists' truck they don't know what's going on, and are joined by Niall (voiced by Arthur Mathews
Arthur Mathews (writer)
Arthur Mathews is an Irish comedy writer and actor who, often with writing partner Graham Linehan, has either written or contributed to a number of popular television comedies, most notably Father Ted. He is a graduate of the Dublin Institute of Technology...
), a rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
from an earlier batch of Project S which can only speak computer advice.
When one of the animals asks the activists if they will be stopping for a toilet break, they panic and crash the truck into a tree. The animals escape, and go their separate ways. After running into humans who are shocked, and other animals who can't speak like they do, they deduce they have somehow been transported into an alternate reality where only humans can speak and the other animals are enslaved by them (a reference to Planet of the Apes).
Meanwhile, Vivi-Sec UK graft Kieron's head onto the body of a gorilla
Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
and send him out to assassinate the other animals. Vivi-Sec UK also alerts the media that dangerous talking animals are on the loose.
The animals take shelter in an elderly lady's house, who calls her psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
to tell him that there are talking animals at her house. Believing the elderly lady to have lost her mind, he has the medics take her away, leaving the animals to live in her house.
Episodes
| EP# | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | London Calling | 10 May 2004 |
| 2 | Planet of the Men and Women | 17 May 2004 |
| 3 | Money | 24 May 2004 |
| 4 | My Fair Mare | 31 May 2004 |
| 5 | A Star Is Hatched | 7 June 2004 |
| 6 | Home | 14 June 2004 |