Apparently, the reason the dodo became extinct so quickly was that it didn't realise the danger posed by the Portuguese sailors who had arrived in its homeland. The little innocents would happily wander up to them, so they could be dispatched to their nearest soup pot with a quick bash on the head.

In the jungles of Bengal, it's the same with boar.

Most of them have never seen a tiger before so they hang about, staying a bit too long at the watering hole, dallying a bit in the long grass.

As the beautiful, sometimes brutal photography in Natural World: Tiger Dynasty (BBC 2, 8pm) showed, that was a big mistake.

Baghani the tigress makes short work of wild boar, pouncing quicker than the cameraman can capture on film. A squeal and it's down on the floor, dead.

Tigers always look so very cuddly, don't they, even though they could rip your head clean off soon as look at you.

Baghani and male Rajore have been released here as part of a conservation breeding programme, and cameraman Nalla is recording their progress.

He has been filming these tigers for so long he has imbued them with personalities and feelings.

Nalla always knows where to find them to film because of the "forest alarm system", a series of squawks, cries and general "run, there's a tiger!" type noises coming from the animals.

He captures some stunning shots – the tigers padding about some old ruins, relaxing in a pool, going off on romantic walks together. (Well, he's allowed some poetic licence).

But there's no happy ending to this story – one day Rajore is found dead, poisoned by a villager, his amber eyes gone hauntingly black.

"Her mournful cries last three days after his death," notes Nalla.

"She is heartbroken – so am I." Sniff.

No poisonings but deaths by gargoyle, a giant log and a headless horseman.

Yes, it's Midsomer Murders (ITV1, 8pm), back again with another plot so paper thin Insp John Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon) could wrap his chips in it.

After William Gaunt is knocked off shortly after uttering the fatal words in response to a knock at the door "oh it's you! What are you doing here?", Insp Barnaby's left asking a question only a Midsomer 'tec would have to: "What sort of effort does it take to dislodge a gargoyle?"

Jonathan Meades On France (BBC 4, 9pm) was like wading through wordplay treacle.

Jonathan, dressed as either an undertaker or like he's got lost on the way to a Blues Brothers convention, was willfully wordy.

I think he was trying to say France is very influenced by America but doesn't like to admit it, because it thinks it's not very chic. But I could be wrong.