Giles’s care bear project
IN previous series about big cats, animal-mad conservationist Giles Clark shocked audiences by flinging open his doors to show us he’s so devoted to saving these giant felines that he’ll even care for them in his own home.
Now Giles is doing the same thing with a bear. In BEARS ABOUT THE HOUSE (BBC2,
8pm), he’s in Laos welcoming a five-month-old sun bear into his home.
Giles has set up home in southeast Asia for a year to help build a new bear sanctuary but the infant bear Mary needs Giles’s special care.After her mother was killed, Mary was rescued from a truck by a forestry official just before she was about to be sold into the illegal wildlife trade.
Poor Mary was fragile and malnourished and needed roundthe-clock nurturing to get her back to health, and Giles works his magic with extraordinary devotion.There’s ‘ah’ factor, as well as good news about the dedication of campaigners to saving bears.
But baby bears aren’t the only animals stealing our hearts on TV tonight, because PAUL O’GRADY: FOR THE LOVE OF DOGS – BACK IN BUSINESS (ITV, 8pm) returns for a one-off special in which he cuddles a selection of furry friends at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
On a trip there just before lockdown, Paul finds out how the staff rushed to get temporary foster care for more than 150 pups and kitties before closing down during the pandemic.
Paul even visits the cats’ home and strokes a few moggies in need of affection and rehoming, but it’s the pups that make Paul go all gooey inside.
And with Battersea crying out for foster carers, Paul doesn’t need to be asked twice.
He’s not there just to play with the pooches – he’ll help out by taking one home, too.
And given that this was filmed just before Paul’s beloved Shih Tzu Boycie passed away (in April), it’s just as well that Paul pre-emptively filled the gap in his menagerie.
See which lucky pooch is chosen to go home with Paul to Kent.
It’s easy to get a sense of déjà vu when watching celebrity reality TV
– you tend to see the same faces over and over, eating kangaroo anus in the jungle, going on a pilgrimage, baking cakes competitively and learning the quickstep.
So it’s a treat to see a someone like Felicity Montagu signing up for a challenge.
The actress best known as Alan Partridge’s downtrodden sidekick Lynn, Felicity dons a pinny for the third heat of CELEBRITY MASTERCHEF (BBC1, 9pm) alongside TV presenters Gethin Jones and Jade Goody’s ex Jeff Brazier, among others.
Let’s see if she can take the heat in the kitchen.