Kangaroo Dundee Dog Tucker

TV One is pulling Kangaroo Dundee from 8.30 Tuesdays after the premiere’s disastrous ratings and will replace it on February 5 with something more buzz-worthy: the HD BBC special, Ultimate Swarms.

Presented by entomoloist George McGavin, it investigates why swarms are “the ultimate defence” for everything from bats and bees to ants and fish.

The Guardian quipped it “sounded like a Jason Statham movie but was in fact a programme about how if we learn from behavioural patterns in nature, we can learn about humans”.

However, while the facts were engaging, “the delivery was infantilised”.

Nonetheless, “it’s the sort of show where HD is needed to convey the full majesty/horror of, say, silver carp hurling themselves out of a river in mass panic,” Radio Times observed.

The footage promises to be spectacular, with The Independent citing billions of mayflies in Texas, thousands of red crabs on a volcanic outcrop in the Indian ocean, Mexican free-tailed bats flying in biblical proportions and a blizzard of locusts.

“But what really took this documentary to new ground was McGavin’s association between swarm behaviour, human replication and artificial intelligence.”

Says McGavin in a press release: “Swarms are one of the greatest spectacles on earth — at times horrifying and other times wondrous.

“By coming together even the simplest of creatures can achieve the impossible.

“And by understanding how swarms work we are gaining some fascinating insights into our own lives.”

Kangaroo Dundee is the surprising first casualty of the new season. It was a well made series that looked terrific in HD, combined a likeable character with cute critters, and should have had broad appeal.

Expect the rest of the series to wind up in TV One’s 5.00 Sunday wildlife slot, where another ratings dud, Monster Bug Wars, is being replaced on Feburary 1 with a re–run of the exceptional BBC series, Yellowstone.