5 December, 2006
TVNZ Licenses Wonder Dogs to Animal Planet
New Zealanders travelling through Africa or the Middle East may shortly turn on the television to find kiwi Wonder Dogs
featuring in prime time on Animal Planet.
The popular local programme, fronted by Mark Leishman and voiced by Jim Mora, has been licensed to the Discovery UK
network as part of a TVNZ deal providing several programmes about dogs for broadcast on Animal Planet.
It's expected that in early April next year, 26 episodes of Wonder Dogs will be fed to Europe, the Middle East and
Africa as well as the UK and Ireland, potentially reaching a cumulative audience of 197 million people.
TVNZ also sold the licence for Kohi Comes Home – Mark Leishman's study of the Guide Dog Service through the life of
guide dog Kohi, before she retired. This went to air on Animal Planet in early November and was Britain's Sun
newspaper's TV "pick of the day".
Leishman's documentary It's a Dog's Life was also sold for broadcast in the UK and Ireland.
All three programmes were commissioned by TVNZ from Dexterity Productions.
ENDS