Gay gorillas

THIS is the story of an orphan triumphing against the odds to become a leader. A tale that takes in sibling rivalry, sex, death and magnificent scenery. But it isn’t Dallas or The Sopranos, there isn’t a shoulder pad or offer you can’t refuse in sight. This is a real life soap opera played out against the breathtaking mountains of Rwanda.

The hero is big and hairy. No, not the Mitchells. Meet Titus, a 33-year-old silverback gorilla whose life story has been intimately documented by researchers and film-makers observing this endangered species.

An air of suspense hangs over the tale as Titus is first seen jockeying for position in the group with ally-turned-rival Kuryana. Is he about to be deposed as king of the mountain?

Archive film and field workers who’ve studied these gorillas since Dian Fossey’s pioneering work over 40 years ago help piece together Titus’s remarkable story from the orphan who defied the odds to wise and powerful gorilla king.

Someone has been watching over him since Fossey began her research on the group, which was led by Bert and Flossie, whom she named after her own uncle and aunt. We all recall David Attenborough romping with gorillas, but these days researchers never get as close as Fossey did as the risk of the animals catching human infections is too great.

Researcher Kelly recalls seeing Flossie with her baby, whom she called Titus because she happened to be reading Titus Groan at the time.

Titus was the first gorilla Ian Redmond ever saw after joining Fossey in 1976. The young gorilla was “like a schoolboy thrown on to the streets of a big city and having to survive” after the group disintegrated following the death of his father, mother and sister.

He got together with Beetsme, another male silverback. Five other males joined them for what you might label the gay years. These bachelors enjoyed each other’s company – there is talk of homosexual behaviour – for eight years until five females joined the group.

Titus, it appears, was a bit shy around girls, probably due to lack of experience.

David Watts tells how a dominant female “had designs on Titus” but he didn’t know how to react or what to do.

The gorillas survived the upheaval in Rwanda during the genocide. When researchers made contact with them after a 15-month gap, they found the group still together. Now Titus faces a challenge to his leadership from his old friend Kuryana. But the team has a final surprise in store, thanks to some DNA tests, that gives an unexpected and very soapy twist to this intriguing story.

The Commander ended last night’s episode with a cry of “Where’s my baby?”

The new-born infant has been carried off from the maternity war by a hooded figure who is not the mother.

As if Amanda Burton’s Commander Clare Blake hasn’t got enough on her plate. The commissioner is worried that the case of a policeman suspected of bludgeoning his elderly mother to death with a poker could be “a magnet for bad press”. How perceptive of him.

So Commander Blake has to take a personal interest in the investigation. This involves strolling around in high heels looking stern.

Investigating officer Doug James (Mark Lewis Jones) isn’t paying attention as he’s the father of the baby who’s been abducted. Prime suspects – so they obviously didn’t do it – are Jennifer Ellison’s pregnant girl, and her mouthy mother (Crissy Rock).

The Commander isn’t quite as nasty as Lynda La Plante’s other long-running series, Trial And Retribution, but it can be wearing that all concerned are so deeply unpleasant. I want to lock all of them up – cop and villains alike.