Paul O’Grady tried traditional Thai medicine to ease his heart problems as part of a fun-filled final TV series he only finished days before he died.
Paul O’Grady’s Great Elephant Adventure follows Paul as he travels across Thailand and Laos helping out at elephant rescue centres. His trip took place in December 2022 and he finished the commentary in March the following year. He died days later on March 28 of cardiac arrhythmia aged 67.
The ITV series is full of his trademark laughter, and at one point, after a day looking after a sick elephant, he ends up in a Chiang Mai market. Paul comes across a doctor offering herbal medicine and says: “That’s got me thinking about my own aches and pains.
"Look at this, like something out of Harry Potter. And this shop specialises in traditional Thai medicine. How about something for the heart? Then there are the varicose veins, the bad back, the eyesight, and a few personal things I won’t go into!”
Paul is given powder made from part of a lotus flower and is told to add one teaspoon to water and drink it like tea, which he does on screen. He recoils from the taste at first but then drinks the mixture in full and even jokes he added a “drop of scotch” to it to help it go down.
Paul clearly adored his time in Thailand and Laos and joked about becoming “an elephant masseur when I retire”, as he hoped to return to revisit the friends he had made, of both the human and elephant variety. Earlier this week, executive producer Claire Barton told how they had more animal shows lined up when he died.
She told Radio Times: “We planned a companion programme on the African elephant and a new series about wild dogs and wolves in Canada – both to be filmed in 2023. Paul was excited about the prospect.”
At the end of the elephant trip, Paul was invited to take part in a good luck Laotian Baci ceremony, which is centuries old and involved him being blessed. In a poignant scene Paul is told: “Best wishes for you and every success.” This week marks the anniversary of Paul’s death. In yesterday’s Mirror his partner Andre Portasio spoke of his pain at losing his beloved husband. He said: “I thought it would be forever. I didn’t realise forever would be so short-lived.” Andre tried to keep him alive with CPR and the ambulance crew spent an hour trying to resuscitate him.
Paul O’Grady’s Great Elephant Adventure starts on Sunday night at 8pm on ITV and ITVX.
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