The sober, sensible documentary Animal Airlift: Escaping the Taliban (Channel 4) offers a clear-eyed account of what happened when the former Royal Marine Pen Farthing tried to get the staff and animals at his charity in Kabul evacuated from Afghanistan in August 2021. What began as a plea to the British public’s love of animals descended into a media storm that burned furiously hot, spitting embers that scorched whoever went near it.
Now that 12 months has passed, and everyone involved has stopped shouting names at each other on television and online, the story of Operation Ark, and the wider context that meant it sparked such a livid response, has become much clearer. This is a gripping film in which most of the key players are interviewed, though it may come as no surprise that no government officials or representatives appear. Perhaps, as on Friday when the energy price cap was raised again, nobody was available.
