FAMILY PAWTUNES

David Attenborough's latest series follows four families & their daily fight for survival

- BY MARK JEFFERIES

DAVID Attenborough's latest BBC project is an African epic which took 1,400 days to make.

Kingdom was edited from more than 76 shoots in Nsefu, in the heart of Zambia, and is described by producers as one of the most ambitious wildlife series ever made.

It follows four rival animal families over five years, telling their stories as they compete for survival and dominance in one of the most spectacular places on Earth.

We see a lion pride, a wild dog pack, a hyena clan and a leopard family all competing to make Nsefu their home.

This is the longest the BBC Studios Natural History Unit has been embedded in one location, tracking individual animals, for a single series.

Executive producer Mike Gunton said: "If I had to pick one word to describe Kingdom it would be 'intensity'- it's almost Shakespearean in its feel, and it's incredibly ambitious in its scale. It's a story that speaks across the ages because it focuses on four rivals and even threats from the outside world.

At the end of filming, the Nsefu pride had eight cubs, making it the biggest this family has ever been.

THE LIONS - RITA'S PRIDE

The savannah's most iconic apex predator, lions need no introduction.

These highly social big cats live in groups, or prides, where the females do most of the hunting.