CHRISTOPHER STEVENS' five-star review of Our Lives: Workhorse - 'Shire horses were once crucial - how tragic they're now rarer than pandas'

Our Lives: Workhorse (BBC One) Rating: Five stars out of five Everybody loves a giant panda. They're ridiculously cute, with their big, kohl-rimmed eyes and fluffy ears. But they aren't much good at anything.Pandas can't be trained. They don't do tricks, and you can't ride them. The idea of a panda pulling a plough is ludicrous.They are famously rare, of course. But the shocking and incredible truth is — there are more giant pandas in the world, nearly 2,000 of them, than there are Shire horses . . . which number fewer than 1,500.At the start of the 20th century, Britain alone had around three million heavy horses of various breeds, or one for every 12 people. But they have been close to extinction for decades, an endangered species despite the crucial role they played for much of our history.They ought still to be playing a crucial role. We're investing billions in developing green vehicles that don't burn fossil fuels, when horses run all day on hay and water. And their emissions provide instant fertiliser.Our Lives: Workhorse supplied a short and moving glimpse of how these magnificent beasts can still be invaluable working animals. The way that we've allowed them to vanish from the landscape is a national tragedy.The four used for forestry work by Kate Mobbs-Morgan are not Shires, in fact, but continental breeds, Ardennes and Brabants. Stockier and more rugged, they are better suited to dragging logs out of steep, muddy woodland.'We go either where machinery can't or it's not welcome,' explained Kate, 64, who set up her business after a brush with cancer more than 20 years ago. Our Lives: Workhorse supplied a short and moving glimpse of how Shire horses can still be invaluable working animals The horses used for forestry work by Kate Mobbs-Morgan (pictured)are not Shires, in fact, but continental breeds, Ardennes and Brabants. Stockier and more rugged, they are better suited to dragging logs out of steep, muddy woodlandShe choked up as she introduced us to her team. Kipp, aged 22, is getting close to retirement. 'I couldn't love somebody more than him,' she said, and their bond was evident as they worked.Kipp's co-worker was a nervous animal called Quinlan, and Kate was also training up two younger horses, Garth and the skittish Brighid. All of them were beautiful beasts but they were especially impressive when in harness. SIGNATURE SHOUT OF THE NIGHT:After forgetting to exclaim 'Boom!' for the past couple of series, judge Benoit Blin said it twice during the climactic 12-hour challenge on Bake Off: The Professionals — The Final (Ch4). 'Boom! Boom!'. . . isn't that Basil Brush's catchphrase, too? Filmed over the course of several months, in Dorset, Yorkshire and the Forest of Dean, this charming half-hour documentary was both relaxing to watch and informative. I could happily have watched a programme twice the length.In the first part, Kate demonstrated how responsive the clever creatures are to her instructions and shouts of encouragement.Like a shepherd with a dog, she called, 'Come over' to send the horses to the left, and, 'Get away' for the right. 'Walk on,' 'Stand,' Back' and 'Whoa' completed the set of commands — with 'Step over' when an obstacle lay in their path.In the second half, she demonstrated their skills at a horse loggers' gathering in Otley, putting Kipp and Quin through their paces so deftly that they threaded logs through hoops and left them balanced on stands like seesaws.You'll never teach a panda to do that.