FURRY, cuddly, good with people, makes strange welcoming noises and is about to be put down after ten years of active life: are we talking about Rolf Harris or Animal Hospital (BBC1, Wednesday) here?

Fortunately for Rolf, it's the latter, but no one should be in any doubt that another reality version of All Creatures Great And Small will follow.

It's the one programme when my wife insists that I muddle through our ridiculously-involved video timer set-up to do a recording and woe betide anyone who interrupts.

Strangely, after 19 series and 2,000 pets being featured, I found my wife smiling about the sad case of Cuddles the kitten. Basically the poor thing had been bitten to the point of no return by fleas before the owner noticed.

"She would call the damn thing Cuddles. What makes it worse is her whole house is jumping, so who would want to cuddle her cat," she announced as Rolf put on his tearful face to announce that the tiny scrap of fur was dead.

Perhaps all new cat owners will learn a lesson from this, but turning up for free treatment from the RSPCA's Harmsworth Hospital tends to indicate that flea sprays, collars, powder or injections (boy, are they expensive) are an afterthought to pet ownership.

Next on the endangered list came people of restricted height as my pet-loving partner flatly refused to believe that out of 80,000 Jersey residents only Caroline Miller was a dwarf.

One Life (BBC1, Wednesday) followed Caroline's hunt for a compatible partner at the Dwarf Athletic Association Games in Birmingham and a US conference welcoming "little people". Feeling guilty about having had leg operations to make her 4ft 5in, Caroline shed tears about meeting people "who don't keep staring at my short arms".

Finally, there was a blind date on Jersey... with another dwarf. But, at 21, George was just too young for 28-year-old Caroline. Most troubling for me was the feeling that filming Caroline's search for love turned the event into yet another freak show.

Far more emotional was Cutting Edge: Battle For A Baby (C4, Thursday) featuring cancer victim Natalie Evans' bitter legal battle to use frozen embryos to have a child, against the wishes of her ex-fiancee.

It was a great pity we already knew the outcome of the court case because Natalie made mincemeat out of a justice system geared towards the rights of her former partner.

Once she'd established the truth about Howard Johnston's agreement to freeze embryos instead of eggs, because there was more certainty of having a child, then the law should have allowed her an attempt at pregnancy on a single mother basis.

If the couple's relationship had broken down while she was expecting, then the law would all have been on Natalie's side regarding paternity, child benefit and maintenance.

To be honest, the return of Dirty "Hello Princess" Den from Spain or the strange country accent of ITV1's Boudica, who I grew up with as Boadicea, probably made more sense. On second thoughts, perhaps not.