Wild at Heart is a British television drama series created by Ashley Pharoah about a veterinary surgeon and his family, who emigrate from Bristol to South Africa, where they attempt to rehabilitate a game reserve for wild animals and establish a veterinary surgery and animal hospital.

It was filmed on location at the Glen Afric Country Lodge, a 1500-acre game reserve and sanctuary that is home to a host of African wildlife, including lions, giraffes, elephants and cheetahs.

Producer Ann Harrison-Baxter said: "We literally walked every inch of the reserve to find the best place to build the house, and then it was all created from scratch and aged to look like it had been there for more than a century in just 10 weeks!

The primary cast included Stephen Tompkinson as Danny Trevanion; Amanda Holden as Danny's wife Sarah (died in Series 3); Lucy-Jo Hudson as Danny's daughter Rosie; Deon Stewardson as the Trevanions' business partner Anders DuPlessis ('Dup'); Hayley Mills as Caroline DuPlessis; Luke Ward-Wilkinson as Danny's stepson Evan; Olivia Scott-Taylor as Danny's step-daughter Olivia; Nomsa Xaba as Nomsa – Leopard Den's cook and housekeeper; and Thapelo Mokoena Mara manager, Cedric Fatani, Martinus Van der Berg as town barman and Rosie’s husband, Max; Dawn Steele appeared regularly in Series 4–6 as Alice Collins (later Trevanion), but took maternity leave for all but one episode of Series 7, returning for the Christmas finale.

Tarryn Faye Brummage played Alice's daughter Charlotte, and Atandwa Kani appeared in Series 6–7.

[2] In April 2012, similar statements appeared, but ITV did not publish a formal press release confirming that the show was cancelled.

The two-hour finale special was filmed at Leopards Den in September 2012 and aired on 30 December 2012 on ITV.

In a BBC Radio 2 interview with Simon Mayo on 24 October 2012, Stephen Tompkinson said, "We got back [from South Africa] about three weeks ago [after filming the finale special].

A behind-the-scenes documentary titled Wild at Heart – Filming with Animals aired on ITV on 31 December 2012, the evening following the Finale Special.

It features previously unseen footage and reveals how real-life emergencies are dealt with in the unpredictable world of filming with animals.

On 9 November 2010, cast and crew returned to the Glen Afric reserve to find that Hamley, a very friendly giraffe that had appeared regularly in the series, had been killed by a lightning strike during a thunderstorm.