Martin Clunes announces new project away from TV appearance

The dog-loving Doc Martin star Martin Clunes has just released a book about heroic creatures throughout history - and he hardly mentions our feline friends. Only four of his 270-page Meetings With Remarkable Animals feature moggies - and just two. When asked why, he said: "Well, no cat ever did anything useful, did it?" But it didn't stop one appearing on the cover illustration - alongside two dogs, a pigeon and a rat.

"It was there to make up the numbers!" he added. The 63-year-old's new book is stacked with stories of how animals have played an important part in our lives over the years. The Men Behaving Badly actor is a well-known lover of man's best friend and he and producer wife Philippa Braithwaite live on a farm in Dorset with two Cocker Spaniels and two Jack Russells.

Not surprisingly the book features many stories about hounds helping save lives. However, when it comes to cats, the tales are in short supply.

Martin joked to an audience at the book launch how he thinks moggies are a bad omen.

One of the two stories involves a black-and-white cat called Oscar who was found floating in the water after German battleship Bismarck was scuttled in 1941.

He was put on board destroyer HMS Cossack as a rat catcher but that sank on its way to Gibraltar months later - and Oscar was rescued again.

He was then moved to HMS Ark Royal but that ship got torpedoed. Found in the sea once more, Oscar ended up in a home for retired seamen.

Martin told fans: "Cats would go on ships to be ratters and then the ships would sink. I am not saying who was responsible but..."