Tormented elephant whose only solace was a jumbo tot of whisky

Sir David Attenborough’s documentaries are usually uplifting and inspiring, filled with memorably beautiful images. They may contain sombre warnings about pollution and climate change, but they are underpinned with hope.

Attenborough And The Giant Elephant (BBC1) offered very little hope. it was a tale to empty you of all faith in humanity — a catalogue of appalling greed, ignorance and mistreatment.

in more than 60 years of wildlife broadcasting, Sir David has never made anything quite like this. it was often difficult to watch, but it was a story that had to be told.

The elephant was called Jumbo, and he lived 150 years ago, the first animal to become a global celebrity. Captured in Africa as a baby, almost certainly by poachers who slaughtered his mother for her ivory, he became a star attraction at London Zoo, giving rides to children.

By day, he was a gentle giant, carrying his surly keeper Matthew Scott and half a dozen youngsters on his back for hours without complaint. All he asked for was a constant supply of sticky buns.

But at night, when the crowds were gone, Jumbo was an elephant in horrific torment. He suffered uncontrollable rages, smashing his head against the bars of his cage so hard that he shattered both tusks. The only medicine the zoo had for Jumbo was whisky. it seemed to calm him.

At the American Museum of Natural History, Jumbo’s bones have been stored for more than a century — yet the remains have never been studied scientifically, till now. Sir David examined the poor animal’s jaw, and saw at once the ghastly evidence of what ailed Jumbo.

His teeth were rotted and misshapen: the sugary buns that children fed him by the hundred had caused appalling dental problems.

Sir David pointed to another cause for the misery: even as a young elephant, Jumbo had suffered from arthritis — exacerabated by the rides he constantly gave.

He ended his life as part of circus master P. T. Barnum’s freak show in America. A train hit him as he was led across railway tracks to his wagon. Death could only have been a mercy to the unfortunate creature.

This was a thoroughly researched piece of animal history, told with Sir David’s accustomed charm. He tried to brighten it with a visit to a U.S. sanctuary where rescued circus elephants now live in comfortable retirement.

But the truth is that Jumbo is a symbol of how sadistically human beings have treated elephants for 150 years. Today, some experts warn we have perhaps 20 years to save them from extinction. The whole business, like this one- off documentary, is heartbreaking.

An elephant gave the marvellous Noaksie, who died earlier this year, one of his most famous TV moments — though, as his fellow Blue Peter presenter Val Singleton revealed on John Noakes: TV Hero (BBC2), mischievous Lulu didn’t actually tread on John’s foot. He was acting, for laughs.

But John wasn’t acting when he scaled Nelson’s Column with not so much as a hard hat for safety gear. Noaksie’s courage was superhuman: whether he was asked to hurl himself down the Cresta run on a bobsleigh or jump out of an aeroplane, he never thought twice about it.

This was a terrific tribute to a unique star — and a salute to an era of recklessly entertaining telly that is long gone.

it’s just a shame that many of the clips were so well-known. There must be dozens more in the archives just as good. Let’s have a whole series.