The budgerigar, or parakeet, the most popular of pet birds, lives in cages and aviaries throughout the world. Yet its true home is one of the hottest, driest and most unpredictable environments on earth, the Australian Outback.

This program is about the incongruity of the budgie as a desert wanderer, and the budgie as a caged pet – with its beautiful colours and lively mannerisms.

But above all, it is a story of survival in the harshest of environments.