Wild things

Just as I'd hoped. After an uncertain start last week, the second episode of Peter Baynham's 'I Am Not An Animal' saw the series hit full stride. With hindsight the opening episode was there purely to establish the premises behind the show, so Monday's installment, which opened with the animals finding themselves outside the laboratory for the first time, effectively marked the real beginning of the series. The satire seemed sharper and the script tighter. Highlights included the Coogan-voiced horse Philip looking down his very long and middle class nose at the concept of steak and kidney pie in a tin, and the monkey Hugh wanking over ten pound notes ("I've found some bare lady pictures! Very soft stuff - just ladies' faces."). The confused animals' attempts to come to terms with the real world were priceless, Philip claiming they must be in some kind of horrible future where animals go around naked and are the slaves of humans, and it is only the latter who are free to practise film criticism.