Last night on television A miracle for Lulu – the pooch with a broken pelvis
If they’re anything like me, my fellow dog owners would have been on the edge of their sofas, a protective hand placed on their own pet pooch. Why? Because (Channel 4) was back for another series of crocked canines and cutting-edge veterinary surgery.
It was all systems go at Professor Noel Fitzpatrick’s pioneering Surrey practice after grey-and-white Staffordshire bull terrier Lulu chased a fox into the road, got hit by a 40mph car and had her pelvis smashed into 26 pieces.
“We have the option of the unmentionable word: euthanasia,” Fitzpatrick gently told Lulu’s owners, mentioning the unmentionable. Me and the dog at my feet (another Staffy, just to raise the stakes) held our breath until the family decided that – since Lulu was still a relative pup at just two years old – they wished to try surgery. Sighs of relief all round. Well, more of a pant in my dog’s case.
“The technical term for this is a fricking mess,” muttered Fitzpatrick, scalpel in hand, before proceeding to pin Lulu back together in an operation that took several hours and all his expertise.
Giant black Schnauzer Florence had lost her tail wag due to painful arthritis in a hind leg. Fitzpatrick relaxed her tearful owners by playfully suggesting that he and Florence have a Bushiest Eyebrow Contest (it was a close-run thing), before fitting a bionic knee. During her recovery, Florence discovered a love of “squeezy cheese”. It’s probably good for her bones.
Fitzpatrick happily shared the limelight with his team, whether it was the receptionists cooing at new arrivals or the nurse overheard apologising to a spaniel for accidentally touching him in an intimate place. Big-hearted neurosurgeon Dr Clare Rusbridge skilfully performed spinal surgery on a pointy-eared Jack Russell called Muffin, whose back legs had mysteriously stopped working.
This feelgood series doesn’t try too hard. There’s no over-emoting nor swelling music, just fixed rig cameras capturing the four-legged dramas. Fitzpatrick sweet-talked the dogs (“Come on, bubs. Let me check your knee, sweetie-pie”) and told their owners to “Stay brave.” Out of all the TV supers – Supernanny, Super Gran, Superted, Supermarket Sweep
– miracle worker Fitzpatrick is the most heroic. Michael Hogan
One of last year’s more sublime comedy surprises was The Good Place (Netflix) – a reflection on mortality and the meaning of life that was also tea-spewing-from-your-nose funny. Starring Frozen’s Kristen Bell as a woman sent to heaven possibly in error and Ted Danson as her overbearing supernatural guide, the show has just returned for a second season on NBC in America, while finally making its UK debut via Netflix.
The entire first series is instantly available, with new episodes to be drip fed over the next 12 weeks. It’s best to start at the beginning and join selfish, boozy Eleanor (Bell) as she wakes in a featureless reception room only to learn she has died and gone to the great beyond.
Luckily, her beatific mentor Michael (Danson) reveals, she’s arrived at “The Good Place” – a suburban Disneyland as pristine and creepy as one of those outlet shopping villages where even the staff seem to be fashioned from high-end plywood (in the Good Place, if you swear, it comes out as “mother-forker” or “ash-hole”).
Naturally, there is more to this candy-cane heaven than meets the eye. Series one concludes with Eleanor and her rag-tag friends Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Tahani (former Channel 4 presenter Jameela Jamil, transitioning flawlessly to quirky comedy) and Jason (Manny Jacinto) making a discovery about the Good Place and Michael that turns everything we thought we knew on its head.
Season two picks up immediately afterwards, with Michael trying to undo the damage caused by these troublesome newcomers. It’s a great showcase for Danson, who flips from flustered to mercurial with ease. Bell is sublime, too, delivering dead-pan one-liners without a hint of the self-satisfaction that often blights American TV comedy.
Quick-fire humour and supreme irony were hallmarks of show-runner Michael Shur’s previous hits The Office (US version) and Parks and Recreation. The characters in The Good Place quickly discover eternal paradise isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. But for astute comedy fans this is simply heavenly viewing. Ed Power
The Supervet ★★★★ The Good Place ★★★★