It's our secret dream to one day run a zoo - think of the fun you could have stocking up on red pandas and accidentally unleashing the panthers - but sadly it's likely to remain a glorious pipedream.

Not for Benjamin Mee though. Armed with nothing more than a big bag of monkey snacks, Mee and his family bought a run-down zoo in Dartmoor in 2006 and set about restoring it to its former glories, coping with family tragedy and escaped tigers along the way. 20th Century Fox has been seduced by this lovely tale, picking up the rights to Mee's memoir We Bought A Zoo.

It's not a Johnny Morris biopic, but it could be the next best thing. Fox evidently agree, presumably with half an eye on tapping into the animal fever created by bumper box-office kahuna-burger that is Marley & Me ($140 million and counting).

There's no writer attached as yet. In the meantime, if you're passing through the West Country at any point, check out Dartmoor Zoological Park for yourself (they've put the tigers back).