Puffins, philosophy and fish and chips? How hypnotically relaxing: ROLAND WHITE reviews Sam & Ade Go Birding

Sam & Ade Go Birding (Ch5)

Rating:

Rating: Four stars

There was a scene in the final episode of Sam & Ade Go Birding that could have been written by Alan Bennett.

Samuel West and Ade Edmondson were eating haddock and chips on the sea front at Bridlington. They were well wrapped up because it was a bit parky, and suddenly the conversation took a philosophical turn.

At least, I think it was philosophy.

'The past and the future are fictional places,' said Sam. 'Future fear is anxiety, and past fear is guilt.'

There was a long pause as Ade considered this profound observation.

'Nice fish and chips,' he said eventually.

This is very relaxing television, but it packs a lot in. There are the birds, obviously. Sam and Ade are doing for ornithology what Jeremy Clarkson has done for farming.

Sam is there to pass on his considerable birding knowledge. He knows the Latin names, the mating habits, and all the facts and figures.

From Ade, we very much get the layman's point of view. Watching guillemots perched on a cliff, he noted: 'They're like old men leaning up against the bar.'

The highlight of his day was spotting a puffin, which peered around a rock at him, looking like a parrot in evening dress.

Puffins look very uncomfortable in the air, flapping their wings frantically. As if they're on their first flying lesson and wishing they'd taken up wild swimming instead. They are much more at home under the water,

Sam explained, where the wings act as flippers.

The series isn't preachy, the pace is slow and comfortable, and there was something rather hypnotic about watching hundreds of gannets circling Sam and Ade's boat and diving for fish.

But like Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse on their fishing trips, what lifts the programme is the conversation between two men who seem very comfortable in each other's company.

Being actors, they are not afraid to share their feelings.

Both men are now in their sixties, and age is becoming a worry. 'There's not much good about it,' said Sam, ruefully. 'I've seen that in my parents [Timothy West and Prunella Scales]. 'I'm slightly scared of getting dementia.'

Ade then came out with the most poignant moment of the entire series. On his seventh birthday, he went to kiss his father goodnight. 'You're far too old for that sort of thing,' said his dad, sternly. 'We'll shake hands.'

'How did you feel?' asked Sam.

'I thought it was normal. I sometimes pity him. What fun did he get out of me.'

There will surely be another series, but here's a thought. Sam said he was thinking of taking up dancing in his sixties. 

Was that a pitch for a place on Strictly?

HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW: In All Creatures Great And Small (Ch5) Tristan prepared for a crucial date with girlfriend Charlotte by getting a trim from travelling barber Josh, who left a bald patch

on the back. It was a handy lesson in life — never use a barber who operates from the back of the pub, and drinks pints before each cut.