The Chosen in the Wild with Bear Grylls review – in a world of toxic masculinity, this feels radical at points

Monsters of God is a jaw-dropping new series from the makers of the hit Netflix pandemic smash, exploring the murky world of exotic reptile smuggling In 1993, a sci-fi blockbuster about an animal theme park that resurrected the dinosaurs sparked more than a flurry of interest in those long-extinct beasts. It left audiences jonesing for the next best thing: a close encounter with a bearded dragon or a ball python. Jeremy McBride, the Emmy-winning film-maker was one of them. “I wanted a pet iguana,” he said. In the wake of the Spielberg classic, reptiles have become fixtures of the modern imagination, adorning zoo exhibits, living room terrariums and every corner of pop culture while underpinning a multibillion-dollar pet trade. But just as in Jurassic Park, the urgent danger isn’t the prehistoric creatures with the teeth and venom. It’s the people willing to steal, smuggle and kill for them. People like the Pablo Escobar of animal trafficking. “Our next documentary is going to be called Who Backstabbed Who,” jokes Eric Goode, an Emmy-nominated director. “You never know when that knife is going to go in your back because everyone’s trying to make a deal with the feds, with another reptile dealer. Even the good guys were supposedly doing bad things. It’s messy.”..

The EU says the tit-for-tat border restrictions between Spain and Italy are temporary and will have no lasting impact on the Schengen zone. Spain began checking travellers from Italy in retaliation for similar controls imposed by Rome after a surge of migrants into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta. Madrid says most of those migrants were swiftly returned and has accused Italy of allowing “persistent irregular migration”. France24 correspondent Sarah Morris tells us the latest from Spain.

Summerhall, Edinburgh Sohrab Haghverdi takes pleasure at winding up the audience in a subversively funny ‘anti-comedy’ of autobiographical insight and political provocation Sohrab Haghverdi says he wants to be liked. I’m not so sure. Would a needy actor be willing to try the audience’s patience by coughing and coughing, then coughing some more? Would they push their way through a hole in a Persian rug, while shouting about snakes and balancing empty suitcases on their head? Or wander off stage at random? No – this is a man who takes pleasure in winding us up. Whether it is collecting his own bodily fluids or launching into a splenetic rant in favour of Trump’s bombing of Iran, he has no interest in giving us an easy ride. This is punk theatre: irritating and brash...