Slap bang in the middle of the coldest Friday of the coldest week of the year, the central heating breaks down at Melton Mowbray Zoo. The system needs a new flange but flanges can't be obtained on Fridays in Melton Mowbray, so Mr Pickles the head keeper asks all the other keepers to take the animal they are in charge of home for the weekend. The results range from disastrous to successful: when the penguin (who 'always hankered after the good life') decides to eat his tea in Mr Pumbles' bed, and the lion succeeds in scaring off Mr Leaf's mother-in-law to such an extent that she doesn't come...

The loveable animals and their keepers at Melton Mowbray Zoo are back Everyone has recovered from the disastrous weekend when the heating broke and Mr Pickles, the zoo director, asked all the keepers to take their animal home for the weekend. In fact, so much so, that a feeling of nonchalence pervades - the animals have been teamed with the same keepers for years and quite frankly it's become rather boring. So. in a bid to liven things up, the keepers decide to swap animals for the day and, as you can imagine this makes for some lively antics Told in Alan's inimitable dead-pan voice this is...