Kingdom (BBC1)

Rating:

Family entertainment was once the BBC's strongest suit. Our national broadcaster excelled at producing shows that offered something everyone could enjoy without embarrassment together.

In decades past, Auntie lived up to her nickname by delivering telly that appealed across the generations. But that's a rarity now. Children's TV is hived off, confined to CBeebies or CBBC.

Even blockbusters such as the finale of The Celebrity Traitors, clocking in with more than 11 million viewers (ratings that would still have been impressive 40 years ago, when there were just four channels), opened after the watershed with a warning of strong language to follow.

Traitors is a marvel of masterly editing. The four-letter words could easily have been cut or bleeped, but the prevailing attitude among TV execs is that such censorship is prim at best, inauthentic at worst.

The very idea of family viewing, suitable for children and grandparents alike, is too often seen as old-fashioned and twee.

Kingdom, airing at 6.20pm on a Sunday, is an outstanding exception. Its standard of wildlife photography is superb, laying down a challenge to natural history film-makers across the world. No broadcaster can match the brilliance of the BBC's animal magic.

Its depth of erudition is remarkable. Narrated by the great Sir David Attenborough, at 99 the longest-serving presenter in television history, Kingdom is packed with well-researched, informative detail.

And its storytelling is mesmerising. Children and adults will both be hooked by the cliffhangers and sheer drama of life on the Zambian savannah, where leopards, hyenas, wild dogs and lions are competing for the same prey.

The poor gazelles lead a life of nerve-wracked tension, constantly on the verge of spring-loaded panic. Wisely, series producer Felicity Lanchester doesn't allow us to become too emotionally attached to these delicate, elegant creatures — they end up too often being ripped inside-out by predators dripping in blood from jaws to ears.

Instead, we start to empathise with the hunters. It's hard to feel instant affection for a hyena, loping along the banks of the Luangwa river like a stroppy delinquent. If any animal ever looked like it was carrying a spray can, ready to graffiti a passing elephant, it's the hyena.

But one delightful image changed that perception. Pregnant hyena Tandala was fast asleep on her back, paws crooked like a spaniel waiting to have its tummy tickled. Five minutes later, she was fighting for her life as a pack of wild dogs attacked. How the cameras managed to capture all that defies understanding.

Every few moments brought more breathtaking pictures. Glorious African starscapes shot in stop motion, hippos submerged in mud, flocks of vultures lifting off amid dust clouds, night-vision pictures of lions and leopards.

Whatever your age, whoever is watching with you, this is unbeatable television for everyone.