Martin Clunes makes so many programmes for ITV that you start to wonder how it works. Clearly, the broadcaster’s research shows that he is wildly popular with audiences. Perhaps he simply emails over a wish list of subjects. Dogs. Horses. Wine-tasting in French Polynesia. Good for him. He is, as the kids say, living his best life.
We know how the idea for A Dog Called Laura (ITV1) came about, because Clunes explained it at the start. He was listening to a programme called Life Changing on Radio 4, in which a woman called Jaina Mistry spoke about her guide dog, Laura. She mentioned that Laura had retired and would need to be rehomed. “I emailed the programme and said, ‘We could give that dog a nice retirement.’ One thing led to another and, well, here we are,” said Clunes.
We met Jaina, and learned how having a guide dog had transformed her life following a rare allergic reaction to penicillin which caused her to lose her sight at 17. We followed the process as she was paired with another dog. And we were primed for the emotional moment when Jaina said goodbye to her faithful companion after 11 years together.
If you like Martin Clunes, then this show was right up your street, but if you also like puppies – well, it was nothing short of heaven. But the programme wasn’t just a cuteness overload. It was informative. Did you know that some of the puppies that don’t qualify at the end of the training period – and 40 per cent of them don’t – are repurposed as companion dogs for visually impaired children, helping to build their confidence and preparing them for the possibility of having a guide dog when they’re older?
Most useful to hear, for those of us who are not blind, was David Isaac describing what it is like to venture out in public with a cane. David lost his sight 10 years ago due to complications from diabetes. “You’d hear people say, ‘Careful, there’s a blind man, move out of the way.’ The only time they’d talk to you was to say, ‘Careful, you’re going to walk into something.’ It was just horrible.” But things changed when he got guide dog Scooby: “I can’t go anywhere now without 15-20 people coming up to me and telling me how beautiful he is, how lovely he is. It’s a huge conversation starter.”
There were tears towards the end when Jaina said goodbye to Laura. But she soon settled into life at Clunes’s Dorset home, with an enormous garden and four other dogs for company. Perhaps she’ll have a cameo in his next documentary.
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