In this series, Joanna Lumley explores the unique, peculiar relationship people have with their feline friends.
How did such an unlikely partnership first begin? Why does the cat stir such conflicting emotions in us? Where is the human-cat partnership headed? Joanna tells the Telegraph.co.uk what's exciting about making documentaries is going to extraordinary places and meeting unusual people.
"For TV you go to different things and you meet people you'd never otherwise have met," she says.
"In my real, Joanna Lumley life, how would I otherwise have met Takaka, the cat tailor of Japan?"
In the first episode, Lumley visits a tiny flat in Tokyo, which is home to two cats and their owner, Takako Iwasa, who runs a growing feline accessories business and sees the two animals as they are dressed up as frogs, princesses, mice and rabbits.
"Before I went to see her, I was really anxious actually, because I hate ridiculing animals," Lumley says.
"But think back to horses in the Middle Ages, when they had armour with pompoms.
"We've always decorated our animals.
"And Takako couldn't have loved her cats more."
This peculiar encounter in a Japanese tower block underlines two surprising aspects of Lumley's series.
First, it is as much about humans as it is about cats.
"The world's full of really barmy people," says Lumley.
"I find the odder these things are the more fascinating they are - and it was the people that became more and more fascinating."
In Joanna Lumley - Catwoman, Joanna begins her journey at a cat show featuring nearly 100 breeds of cat, then travels to Belgium, where she joins in the excitement and colour of the world's biggest cat festival.
In Egypt, she meets the countless street cats of Cairo, a city where - thanks to a Muslim tradition - cats are admired and fed, but left to roam free.
She learns the Egyptians worshipped this enigmatic creature as a goddess with two faces - the fierce, terrible Sekhmet, and the gentle, fun-loving Bastet.
Finally, in Japan, Joanna discovers the demand for pet cats is now one of the fastest growing in the world, as a cute, cuddly feline companion is considered to bring good energy and good luck.
Joanna Lumley - Catwoman, Sunday, 7.30pm, TV One.
