Cat Watch 2014: the New Horizon Experiment, BBC2 - TV review

Cat Watch 2014: the New Horizon Experiment on BBC2, made us question who the real evolutionary winners are: the Homo sapiens who have toiled for millennia to achieve mastery over their environment? Or the domesticated cats who never toil at all? If you enjoyed the hugely successful 2013 programme The Secret Life of the Cat, this was more of the same – popular science programming conceived with pet owners in mind.

Presenter Liz Bonnin and her team have persuaded a few hundred of Britain's 8.5 million felines to wear specially designed collars that tracked their movements over a period of months. City cat Diggy and farm cat Growler gave us answers to questions like, "What are whiskers for?" and "Why does my cat wake me up at 4am every morning meowing to be let outside?"

Proof, if proof were needed, that our culture's worship of kitties has reached Ancient Egyptian proportions was provided by "Cat HQ". This was the studio that had been set up as a base for all activities and experiments. It apparently contained more hi-tech equipment and stressed-out scientists than Nasa's mission control.