Meerkat Manor 3

Meerkat Manor, currently in its fourth series, is made by Oxford Scientific Films for Animal Planet International, part of the Discovery Communications group. Created by Caroline Hawkins, executive producer and series editor at OSF, the series details the comings and goings of the Whiskers, one of the tribes of Meerkats of the Kalahari Desert. The Meerkats are under study under the Kalahari Meerkat Project, jointly funded by Cambridge University and the Kalahari Research Trust, so the series has some academic pedigree.

Meerkat Manor Season 3 brings us another saga of survival in the Kalahari for the Whiskers tribe. Filmed between November 2006 and April 2007, the series has been criticised for depicting nature "red in tooth and claw" so if you haven't seen the show before and are buying it for smaller members of the family, proceed with caution.

Brilliantly filmed by Oxford Scientific Films, who have been making specialised scientific movies for decades (they shot the strange space background shots for Kal-El's flight to Earth for Superman The Movie in 1978), the programme is deservedly Animal Planet's most popular show.

The label, Demand Media, has not made a proper review possible, sending out a single DVD-R labelled "Meerkat Manor Season 3 Promo" This contains four 22 minute episodes with no menus, extras or indication what the finished product will be like - so basically a waste of everybody's time.