| Genre: | Nature documentary |
| Presenter: | Michaela Strachan Steve Leonard |
| Starring: | Lone Drøscher Nielsen |
| Composer: | David Poore |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Num Episodes: | 11 |
| Executive Producer: | Sara Ford |
| Producer: | Nigel Pope Simon Bell |
| Location: | Borneo |
| Runtime: | Series 1: 30 minutes Series 2: 60 minutes |
| Company: | BBC Natural History Unit |
| Channel: | Series 1: BBC One Series 2: BBC Two |
| Related: | Big Cat Diary |
Orangutan Diaries is a nature documentary series on the BBC,[1] [2] which follows the lives of Bornean orangutans in the care of Lone Drøscher Nielsen, a member of the Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) foundation. The program tries to detail the threat that the orangutans face in day-to-day life. The presenters Michaela Strachan and Steve Leonard follow the careers of the orangutans daily to see what the centre has to deal with.
The centre was founded in 1994, a year after Lone Dröscher Nielsen permanently moved to Borneo. She could see what effect the palm oil plantations were having on the orangutans, so then founded the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Reintroduction Project, which now is the largest ape rescue project in the world.The first series aired on BBC One in April 2007 and the second series on BBC Two in March 2009.[3] [4] Both series are available as DVDs[5] [6]
Each episode is 30 minutes long.
The second series also features Dr David Irons who has taken time out from his work at the accident and emergency department of the Galloway Community Hospital in Stranraer, Scotland. His medical expertise with humans, he says, can for the most part be transferred to his work with orangutans: "their anatomy is very similar and their systems work, in most cases, practically the same as ours."[7]
Each episode is 60 minutes long.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Clive Moragan called Orangutan Diary and "engrossing series", describing it as "soap-style wildlife documentary series". Daily Express said that viewers of the show would be, "touched and amazed in equal measure".[9] Writing in The Independent, Tom Sutcliffe questioned if the show was actually good for the orangutans, stating, "They even blow soap bubbles for the nursery class, with the babies following them through the air with just as much rapt wonder as any human infant. But given that people are the biggest threat to orang-utans in the wild, you couldn't help but wonder whether being taught to fear and distrust us might be more to the point."[10]