19th series of Supervet which is celebrating its tenth anniversary

Thursday: The Supervet: Noel Fitzpatrick (Channel 4, 8pm)

Some of them were so poorly that they were beyond the sort of treatment that traditional veterinary medicine has to offer, and yet Noel never gave up. Often the cutting-edge procedures and surgeries that he and his team use are completely bespoke and can involve processes or devices that Noel himself has had to create from scratch.

Before implementing them, he often has to prove that they are ethically the best option for the animal in question, since there is no precedent.

In fact, before the series even began Noel was already a Guinness World Record holder for being the only veterinary surgeon in the world to successfully apply an amputation prosthesis to a cat (Oscar, who was hit by a combine harvester in 2009 but thanks to Noel would go on to live a long and happy life).

The Supervet – the TV show that is, not Noel Fitzpatrick himself – is 10 years old this year

That operation was covered in the BBC programme The Bionic Vet, but Noel’s pioneering work was not done yet – and neither was his TV career. He went on, as The Supervet, to undertake all manner of hard-to-treat cases – many of them animals for whom Noel was their last chance at life.

He rarely disappoints.

This 19th series will feature more such cases, but first it begins with this rescue special, featuring stories both old and new of some of the animals for whom Noel has provided extraordinary, life-saving treatment – as well as the families whose beloved companions made staggering recoveries as a result.

They include rescue whippet Wobble, who was only a year old in 2015 when she was discovered to be suffering from a compression fracture in her neck – possibly as a result of being hit.

The fracture caused squeezing of the spinal cord, resulting in pain and affecting signal transmission between Wobble’s brain and her limbs. Foster mum Diana, who rescued Wobble from a life on the streets, now has to wait to see whether complex surgery can restore Wobble’s quality of life.

We also recall the case of three-legged German shepherd rescue Bran, who first came to Fitzpatricks in 2019 and received an innovative custom total hip replacement – the first of its kind for a three-legged dog. However not every vet at the time agreed that this should even be an option for Bran, and so Noel conducted an ethics review to satisfy those who may disagree with giving Bran this chance.

Elsewhere seven-week-old kitten Pretzel, who was abandoned at a vet’s surgery with severely twisted back legs, puts Noel’s skills to the test.

Devoted veterinary nurse Nicole, who has been fostering Pretzel, is determined to do everything she can so that Pretzel can have an operation – and with it, the chance of a pain-free and happy future.