As joyful and heartfelt as last Sunday’s tribute show For The Love Of Paul O’Grady was, I couldn’t help thinking Paul deserved better than just 45 minutes of ITV’s time.
Last night I realised why they didn’t give him more. The latest series of For The Love Of Dogs is clearly going to be a glorious and emotional eight-week eulogy to the man.
And how fitting that he’s taking his final television bow with the show he most loved doing - and the one he was perhaps most loved for.
Ironically, as this new series began Paul was in reflective mood, taking a look back at some of the dogs he had met during the previous 11 years.
If that didn’t bring a lump to your throat, then the way Paul dealt with a terrified eight-year-old bichon stray called Katie will surely have done the job.
The fact that Paul’s stroking and cajoling of Grace was played out to the strains of the Linda Ronstadt singing “I think I’m gonna love you for a long long time” meant the tender moment hit even harder.
Luckily, as always with his show, there was plenty of footage of Paul playing with “maniac” dogs to lighten the mood.
Star of the show on that score last night was a staffy/lab cross called Grace who had something of a water fetish.
Watching Grace splash around in the modified paddling pool-cum-sprinkler - honestly, the ingenuity and attention-to-detail displayed by the team at Battersea never fails to amaze - Paul concluded her ideal owner would be a sailor.
This led to a comedy quip which suggested he hadn’t completely left Lily Savage behind: “Where do you find a sailor these days? Something I ask myself everyday.”
Unlike Lily, Grace didn’t end up with a sailor. She went to a nice couple from Kent instead.
That just left newfoundland, Peggy, waiting to go to her new home.
As Paul waved her off, he said what a lot of viewers were, at the time, no doubt thinking about him.
“Alright sweetie, it’s been lovely knowing you. It’s hard to say goodbye.”
Hopefully, the remaining seven episodes will make that goodbye a little easier.
