WILD ABOUT...

GLADIATORS (Sky One) went down a storm in my house last night.

My three nippers had only seen it for the first time on Saturday, but then they watched the second episode going out in real-time.

When the two male contenders both fell up the travelator at the end, they were bouncing all over the sofa like little powerballs.

I later came down to earth with Wild China (BBC2).

Never has there been a series more aptly timed after last week's earthquake.

It still takes ten minutes to tune into Bernard Hill's narration, but, once the pictures take over, there's no looking back.

This is a terrific insight into a country that is still so new to us - and yet the footage of the early botanical explorers was, perhaps, even more incredible than the new stuff.