On the prowl for exotics

AS YOU can imagine, being a TV critic involves an awful lot of travel. Indeed, only a couple of days ago I picked up my laptop and travelled all the way from my lounge to my kitchen. (The kitchen telly has a sharper picture.)

And yet some would still consider this unadventurous. Yes, really. I’m talking about people for whom travelling means getting on a plane and flying to another actual country.

But although that’s obviously crazy on so many levels, I’ll confess that there are times when I value such endeavour on their part.

When people travel to far-off lands to make nature documentaries, for example, thus enabling me to savour our planet’s biodiversity from the comfort of my own home, then I’m truly beyond grateful.

By “people”, I mean the likes of wildlife filmmaker Colin Stafford-Johnson.

Should I wish to see, say, the tiniest bird in the world – and why on earth wouldn’t I? It’s the tiniest bird in the world, for heaven’s sake – then all I need do is watch Colin’s new two-parter WILD CUBA: A CARIBBEAN JOURNEY (BBC2, 8.30pm) and – hey, presto! – there it is.

It’s Colin who’s had to do all the legwork, endure all that miserable, wretched flying.

Did you realise it takes more than 10 hours to get to Cuba? It takes me only six to get to Cornwall, and that’s including the half-hour stop at Exeter services.

Not that I’d recommendWild Cuba for the world’s tiniest bird alone. (It’s called the bee hummingbird, by the way, and it’s found nowhere else on earth, not even in Padstow.)

No, I’d recommend it because it’s crammed with such awe-inspiring natural wonders, a good half of which are unique to this Caribbean island.

Ever seen a Fernandina’s Flicker? You haven’t lived.

You also haven’t lived, some might argue, if you’ve never seen Cilla Black and Marc Bolan, God rest their souls, duetting on Life’s A Gas, the B-side to Marc’s 1971 hit Jeepster.

But if you haven’t – seen it, I mean – please don’t despair. It’s easily fixed by watching BBC Four’s archive compilation CILLA AT THE BBC (8pm), where it’s among a heap of splendid old clips.

This collaboration came about when Mark guested on Cilla’s Saturday night show on BBC1, which ran from 1968 to 1976.

And while it sounds a lot better than you might expect, I have to say that, as performers, they look as if they’ve beamed down from entirely different worlds.

As indeed do Maria and Gary from CORONATION STREET (ITV, 7.30pm).

Do this under-strain pair seriously have the makings of a happily married couple?