SILVERBACK
BBC iPlayer
There’s a cheesy old dad joke that goes, ‘How do you brush a crocodile’s teeth?’ Answer: ‘Very carefully.’
You could deliver the same punchline when asking, ‘How do you make friends with a 450lb wild silverback gorilla who just wants to be left alone to take care of his family?’
Only this was no joke, as we saw when the silverback, named Mpungwe, charged at the humans attempting to get close to him. As the animal roared with rage and bared his huge fang-like teeth, for a second it looked as though the documentary team were goners.
It was one of many heart-stopping moments in this extraordinary one-off film. It followed wildlife cinematographer Vianet Djenguet’s efforts to immerse himself in the habitat of a gorilla family in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Djenguet, who has worked with Sir David Attenborough, did this by spending three months in the park, each day inching ever closer to the impressive but terrifying primate in an attempt to ‘habituate’ him.
Wildlife cinematographer Vianet Djenguet is pictured with the silverback, named Mpungwe
A combination of war, deforestation and poaching means that the gorilla population in the region stood at just 170 across 13 families and was at risk of total extinction. The best hope for preserving the species is through eco-tourism – allowing visitors access – which brings money to the area to fund their care and protection.
But before that could happen, Mpungwe had to get used to the presence of people. He was having none of it though, and who could blame him? Which of us would be thrilled if strangers turned up seeking to crash with us for three months?
The head of a family of 23, Mpungwe was a handsome 35-year-old who roamed the park beating his chest and luring females away from their families and into his tribe.
For acclaimed filmmaker Djenguet, who grew up in the Congo and lost his family home during the war there in the 1990s, it was a poignant and emotional homecoming.
While the female gorillas in Mpungwe’s family were welcoming and the adorable babies just wanted to play, it took five weeks before Djenguet and his team of rangers could get within 20 metres of the patriarch.
UK writer Claudia Connell called Silverback ‘sensational’
Some days Mpungwe would be happy and sociable and other times he’d be a right old grump who didn’t want to engage with the missus, kids… or lurking humans. Just like any dad, really.
Once the silverback allowed the team to sit seven metres from him without charging, he’d be considered habituated enough for tourists to be introduced. Yet the closer Djenguet got, the more he doubted his mission.
‘Mpungwe must learn to trust the very species that threatens him and his family most,’ he said sorrowfully.
This sensational film offered a glimpse into how Mpungwe’s future could look as we witnessed pouting, posing tourists taking selfies with the gorillas who had already been successfully habituated.
Although it may well ensure his family’s future, it just didn’t seem fitting that the destiny of a magnificent creature like Mpungwe is that of an Instagram star.
Nothing wet about this copper
AFTER THE FLOOD
Wednesdays, ITV1
Following the weather we’ve had in recent weeks there were times when the opening episode of this new six-part drama felt more like a documentary. Flooded homes, burst riverbanks and locals furious at a council who reneged on promises to protect them – no suspension of reality required.
Sophie Rundle starred as PC Joanna Marshall, a somewhat green young copper in a Yorkshire town charged with evacuating residents to safety. Her curiosity was piqued when the body of a man thought to have drowned was found in an underground car park.
Sophie Rundle stars as PC Joanna Marshall, a policewoman who decides to go rogue when she discovers the body of a man thought to have drowned in the flood in an underground car park
When the postmortem revealed that he’d actually been murdered days earlier she was like a dog with a bone. The victim’s DNA provided no database matches and the detectives heading the case wrote him off as a drifter.
That was unacceptable to PC Marshall, who decided to go rogue. We all love a maverick cop but Marshall took things to a whole new level. She stole the man’s DNA information, fed it into a genealogy site and located his sister in France.
And that was just day one on the job. One could only imagine what kind of rules she’d be breaking by the end of the week.
The concept of a lone cop fighting against the establishment isn’t new but in the hands of a talented actress like Rundle it still felt exciting and highly watchable.
More cosy crime, vicar?
As Grantchester (Thursdays, ITV1) returns, it’s hard to believe the series is celebrating its tenth anniversary.
Sleuthing vicar Will Davenport is played by Tom Brittney
It’s an enchanting leader in the ‘cosy crime’ genre, with sleuthing vicar Will Davenport (Tom Brittney) teaming up with DI Geordie Keating (Robson Green) in the 50s to collar baddies without the use of DNA evidence or any of that malarkey.
But what’s this? Geordie’s superiors insisting he retire, even though he and Will solved the murder of a biker in five minutes? Never!
- For a chance to win £50, send us your views on these and any other shows to weekend@dailymail.co.uk
