Martin Clunes: My Travels and Other Animals

Martin Clunes explores horses in history, from ancient cave paintings in France to the newest racecourse in Dubai.

Martin travels high into the Pyrenees mountains, where there is a record of the horse drawn on the walls of the Niaux Cave from 14,000 years ago; a hundred years ago fishermen used horses to trawl the sea for shrimps and Martin spends a day fishing with these last European horse fishermen (now protected by UNESCO). To understand better how Medieval soldiers and their horses fought battles, Martin and horse Magic don a suit of armour in Warwickshire. In London, Martin is privileged to take part in a nighttime rehearsal for the Royal Parade that few people know takes place, and meets some of the Queen's horses that are handpicked and trained for whatever might be thrown at them. Finally, Martin heads to Dubai and the Meydan racecourse, the one place that still connects us with our equine past, and meets top racehorse trainer Luca Camani to learn what it is that drives horses to race.

Martin Clunes learns about animal exploitation - the good, the bad and the ugly. In Sri Lanka, fishing manta rays is legal but a turtle sanctuary offers hope. In Thailand, he learns more about silk production, and a more animal-friendly alternative, and on the Australian island of Friday Island, he is shown the delicate art of growing pearls. Finally, in the Abrolhos islands, Martin learns about the most valuable catch in Australia's waters.

A look back at Martin's time in Africa, which left an indelible mark on him. In 2012, he was involved in an extraordinary mission to return lions to the wild in Kenya, and it started with a lion cub called Mugi. This mission had all the makings of a big adventure, both for Mugi and Tony Fitzjohn, the man who was having his dream realised.