The career path of Martin Clunes is sometimes a little hard to reconcile if you think about it for too long.

Back when I was at high school and all my slightly irritating male friends dreamed of being grown up enough to live along with each other and eat crisps and down rivers of lager, he was this guy:



Thus, I hated him.

But as Men Behaving Badly faded he popped up as Burbage in Shakespeare In Love (one of the all-time greats), and now he's your mum's favourite in shows like Doc Martin.

And, now, this:



I stumbled upon Horsepower a rainy Saturday two weeks back; I was staying in the mountains with Mum and anything to do with animals is generally a good bet for viewing, considering the surrounding locale.

We settled in for what looked like a decent way to pass the time while doing other things, and ended up sobbing like babies.

Horsepower is the best show I have seen since the last best show I'd seen in a long time.

On paper it's a fairly standard affair: Clunes travels the world, finding out about horses and their relationship with humans. So far, so Saturday evening.

But what you don't count on is Clunes' own deep love of the great beasts - he often talks about his horse, Chester, like a WWII soldier talking about his girl back home - to the point that he spends the majority of the show either beaming (see above) or in tears.

The moment that had me suffering life-threatening water loss was when Clunes attended a "horse therapy" session at a ranch in America.

He stands in the middle of a dusty yard, and says "Devo" - that's the horse - "I am the student, you are the teacher; what is your lesson for me?" Devo promptly sticks his head in a bucket and has a drink. Clunes nervously laughs it off as rejection.

After a few minutes of this (probably more like an hour in real time), it becomes clear to Clunes that Devo's lesson is about Clunes' own fear of rejection and need for instant approval, something he's apparently carried since childhood.

By this point the lesson is learned and Devo walks over to let a now-sobbing Clunes give him a hug around the neck.

You guys, it was the greatest.

And, fortunately for you, YOU CAN WATCH IT RIGHT HERE! (From 5:20 onward from the first video, though the whole thing is worth watching.)





WAAAAAHHH!!

Unfortunately Horsepower was only a two-parter, but this Saturday at the same time - 6:30pm on Seven - a new Clunes effort, which looks equally glorious, is starting: A Man And His Dogs.

Yes, this time he's going smooshy with puppies - including "Australia's own", thanks Seven promos, dingos - and I will be glued to my set for an hour.

I wonder if my high school mates will be watching, too.