HYLAND

Paul O’grady was on a mission to correct a malicious falsehood on ITV last night. “People think I don’t like cats,” Paul said. “But that’s not true.”

He then explained the reason he didn’t have any cats was that they wouldn’t get on with his other pets. It seemed reasonable enough. However, I suspect it cut no ice with the millions of moggies watching at home.

One or two of them may have even taken a couple of seconds out from licking their tails to pipe up: “Really, Paul? Only I don’t see any episodes of Paul O’grady’s For The Love Of

Cats in my TV listings.”

OK, I am aware that was a ridiculous thing to write. Everyone knows cats don’t have their own TV listings. Still, at least Battersea’s cats got a fair amount of airtime in this one-off special, which looked back at the frantic re-homing push in the week prior to Covid lockdown.

It was basically an excuse to watch some cute animals for an hour – or as Paul put it: “I think we could all do with a bit of doggy therapy at the moment.”

It certainly cheered me up. I very much applauded the (clearly intentional) inclusion of some footage of a