Move over, Attenborough! Penguin Town is the cuddly nature show for our times

Netflix's new comfort watch about lovely penguins living in a South African town is gore free and pandemic-perfectIt's probably for the best that the BBC didn't put out one of its landmark nature series during lockdown. I don't think I'd have been able to take it. In times of trouble, the last thing anyone wants to see is a gory, operatic, kill-or-be-killed reminder that all life on Earth is locked in a hellish struggle for survival that, by design, they are guaranteed to lose. Yes, we're fully aware that life is pain, thanks very much. Not now, Attenborough.You sense that Netflix understands this, too, because that's the only logical explanation for the existence of its new wildlife show Penguin Town. Penguin Town is about some penguins that live in a town. The penguins are real (they're endangered African penguins), and the town is real (it's Simon's Town in South Africa). But apart from that everything is lovely and cuddly and anthropomorphised to high heaven. Continue reading...