THERE was a story in the papers the other day about a man who had a puma as a pet. A passing expert said of the big cat: ‘It’s not a cuddly toy. It’s one of the most dangerous animals in the world and it could be a real threat to people’s lives.” Fair enough. Puma, confined space, you can see where that plan might go awry.

Wild animals need to be just that, wild. But sometimes, as we saw in Bears About the House (BBC2, Wednesday), it is necessary for the outdoors to come indoors. All the fault of humans, of course.

Mary, a sun bear cub, had been found in a cage somewhere in Laos. Her mother murdered, she was destined for a life of torture in a bear bile farm, her body harvested for digestive juices to be used in “traditional medicine”, aka bogus swill that doesn’t work. Rescued by Free the Bears, tiny Mary was given into the care of conservationist Giles Clark (above) to feed her up.

Clark has a rep with ridiculously cute baby animals, as anyone who saw him rearing a puma and a tiger (not together) would attest. Mary was arguably more awesome in every sense than her feline predecessors. Between looking after her, and helping to expand the nearby bear sanctuary, Clark had his paws full, and that was before he went looking for shops selling banned animal products.

The programme played it gently with viewers at first. Then Clark’s wife, Kathryn, arrived and wanted to know more about the farms. What we saw was a tiny fraction of the horror, but that was enough. Some humans are the pits. If it was not for other humans like the Clarks, their mate Matt, head of the charity, and the staff at the sanctuary, you would surely give up on us.

Still on the subject of cute woodland critters, a certain Scots duo were back in Colin and Justin’s Great Escapes (BBC Scotland, Wednesday). No need for surnames among friends, right? The boys have been living in Canada and away from Scottish screens for a few years now. They haven’t changed a bit, but the houses they take a nosey around have become considerably bigger. This week they looked at three new builds in the wilderness of Southern Ontario.

Colin and Justin oohed and ahhed and said “amazing” about a gazillion times. Suddenly their move to Canada made sense. Where else would such a nice duo go but the country famed for its niceness? The trouble with niceness is it gets boring after a while, and so it proved here even though the programme was just a half hour. One longed for some objective criticism, Grand Designs-style, but it never came. Just more niceness, more amazement, more sugary delight at the views.

Two heavyweight documentaries began this week. Once Upon a Time in Iraq (BBC2, Monday) promised to tell the story of the 2003 invasion and its aftermath through the experiences of civilians, journalists and soldiers, rather than politicians. With so many of those interviewed still feeling the consequences, the film skilfully brought the war from recent history back into the present. It seemed that everyone could see there was no plan for after the invasion, except the politicians who were meant to have one. A gripping, depressing, but necessary watch.

Yer man Tony Blair turned up in The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty (BBC2, Tuesday). Not in person, but in a clip showing him giving evidence at the Leveson Inquiry into press standards. According to various talking heads, New Labour’s cuddling up to Murdoch was strictly part of the business of winning elections and everyone knew what they were doing. As became clear, Murdoch, in this instance as in others, was way ahead of the game, acting first and foremost in his own interests.

Not a lot emerged that was new, with the usual suspects saying the usual things. The second part deals with phone hacking. Will this series lay a glove on Rupe where others have failed? On the evidence of the first part, it is not looking likely.

I May Destroy You (BBC1, Monday-Tuesday), written by and starring Michaela Coel in the lead role, came to a close after a dozen episodes. I have to admit, this drama took some getting used to. Achingly hip young Londoners doing crazy things (going out after 10pm!), just watching it made a person feel 100 years old.

But wow. The story was ostensibly about a rape and its aftermath, but there was so much else going on, so many ideas electrifying each episode, from what it means to give consent to the power of forgiveness.

In the final episode, when we found out what had gone on the night Arabella (Coel) had her drink spiked, Coel gave us not one, or two, but three endings. Why? Because this clever, complex, drama deserved more than a straightforward closer. A star is born in Ms Coel.