Natural World: The King Cobra And I (BBC2)

When Sex Becomes An Addiction (five)

ROMULUS Whitaker is a man who's out to save the King. He's not a royalist but someone who's devoted his life to snakes, notably the King cobra.

They're big. Very big. The largest King in captivity - called Elvis, what else? - is 14ft 4ins long, weights 21lbs and is probably 19 years old (he might be lying about his age but no-one dares to disagree). The Natural World documentary followed Whitaker as he set up a sanctuary for these reptiles in India. With their forest home under threat, the Kings need somewhere safer to live. The birth of Priscilla's baby Kings, as they slit the egg with a special tooth releasing a powerful odour, provided one of the memorable moments in the film, possibly the first wildlife documentary to include so many Elvis Presley songs on the soundtrack.

Mating for King cobras can be problematic. They only eat snakes, so are just as likely to feast on a potential sex partner as mate with them. Sex was also the driving force behind When Sex Becomes An Addiction, which opened with scenes of couples kissing and cuddling on a bus as it passed Nelson's Column (very subtle). Then the documentary got down to the serious business of sex addicts. There are 22 million in the US, but no-one knows the extent of the problem in the UK. Well, you know how shy we Brits are about talking about our sex lives. Being an addict may sound like fun but, experts warned, can drive you to the brink of madness. Sex-mad Sean's day would take in masturbation, a porn movie, phone sex, a session with a girlfriend and a trip down the park with a man. He was "acting out", the term given to addicts giving in to their desires. It can affect anyone of any age, race, culture or religion. The root of the problem, a psychologist suggested, was that these addicts were desperate for intimacy as they were lonely. Another traced it to childhood abuse and several of those interviewed admitted to such traumas when young. Pastor's daughter Marnie's addiction continued through marriage and having children until she thought of killing herself because "the shame was enormous", she said. "I was afraid people would look in my eyes and see this depravity that was in my soul." She sought out men and seduced them, targeting people she knew and bumping into them accidentally-on-purpose. "I knew this wasn't right, I couldn't stop," she confessed. She's paid the price - being diagnosed with cervical cancer caused by a sexually transmitted disease.Now there's a new way for addicts to feed their sexual compulsion - the Internet. Robin, 26, picks up three or four men a week on the Net, spending seven hours a day online. "Some people order pizzas on line, I order men," he said.