I have no interest in Countryfile but there's nothing else to watch until Gently and Downton - so I turned it on whilst cooking gammon steaks with rich spicy sauce, new potato salad and bean sprouts (plus Sancerre spritzer) and suddenly on came this piece about sheep being herded home over the Alps before winter snow arrives.

Wow! Incredible. 1200 sheep (gorgeous; black faces) in file down tiny paths and across narrow bridges, thousands of miles above us; I gasped. In high definition - fabulous. Award worthy if Judges for BAFTA are reading.

Catch it on iPlayer, about 40 mins in.

I did the same but was hooked on the Victorian pumping station feature which was pretty cool. John Craven's false teeth need adjusting though!

Yes that was fabulous too; how about the decoration and the stained glass windows! They certainly had style, those Victorians.

Several people e mailed me to thank me for tipping them off about the sheep segment; the final part was just on; totally amazing and far better TV than the X Factor over on ITV.