INITIAL reaction when seeing the listing for Trump Takes on The World (BBC2, Wednesday): it was too soon. The US Senate had just begun the impeachment trial of the 45th President, and here was a new documentary series attempting to fix his place in the history of international diplomacy.

It was like taking an accident report from someone lying dazed and confused at the foot of the stairs. When it comes to The Donald, most of the world is still at the stage of, “Huh, what just happened, where are we?” and will be for some time yet.

Then again, this three-parter was from Norma Percy, the producer behind Inside Europe: Ten Years of Turmoil, which charted the long road to Brexit, and The Death of Yugoslavia, among many other standout documentaries. Percy’s films specialise in hearing from the people who were in the room when history was made, be they an adviser, minister or prime minister. If someone has something illuminating, amusing or gossipy (particularly the latter) to contribute, they’re in.

Sure enough, the first film covered much we already knew, the withdrawal from the Paris Accord on climate change, the train wreck Nato meeting, the disastrous press conference when the American President sided with Vladimir Putin against his own agencies. But it was the colour the talking heads provided that brought history alive.

One observer spoke of the US President “careening from topic to topic like a squirrel caught in traffic”. Another adviser considered faking a medical emergency just so the cringe-inducing awfulness of the Russia-US press conference would stop.

Then there was former British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who had given an interview to Fox News that was mildly flattering about the President. Trump rushed to congratulate him, later telling everyone in earshot: “I don’t know who the hell that guy is, but he’s doing a great job.”

Oh Donald, missing you already. Or maybe not.

Newsflash: Scotland has been invaded. Follow-up newsflash: I think we survived. Last summer, you will recall, staycationing was all the rage, not least among celebrities making travel programmes.

Among the first of the resulting shows to surface was Darcey Bussell's Wild Scottish Coast (More 4, Monday). Dame Darcey was thrilled to be island hopping on the west coast. Having heard all about the country from her Glasgow-born grandfather, Tommy, it had been a lifelong ambition to visit.

She saw an otter fishing, tried her hand at weaving, had a go at Scottish step dancing and ate freshly collected scallops at the lochside, having been shown how to collect the meat. “I shucked the scallop out of the shell,” she said in a “rain in Spain” way.

That sentence could have gone so wrong, but we were always in safe hands with Dame Darcey. There was nothing here you had not seen many times before, but her enthusiasm was engaging, and I could look at that perfect posture of hers for hours.

Joanna Lumley's Home Sweet Home –Travels in My Own Land (STV, Tuesday) found the ab fab one in Scotland. She went to Harris wearing a Jean Muir tweed coat (natch), Eilean Donal Castle, Corryvreckan, a distillery, passed by Jura, and drove around Glasgow with Janey Godley in an old bus. Joanna Lumley is 74 and I want to be exactly like her when I grow up.

I’m delighted to say that Glasgow still has a horse in the race that is Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr (BBC2, Tuesday). Even better, Barbara Romani is coming further out of her shell. In the opening week she seemed reluctant to speak up for herself; this week she assumed control of her team faster than you could say "room divider".

“I cannot be on that couch again,” she vowed, referring to the sofa where losers are given their marching orders.

Barbara had made a 3-D computer model of the office the teams had been asked to design, and by Jehovah she was going to use it. The model was a smart move because it allowed the designers to keep everything in proportion. Amy could have done with one. The first sign she might be in trouble was when she suggested putting two swings in the office. It was almost as daft an idea as Peter’s ping-pong table.

But Amy’s piece de resistance was a over-sized, tiered seating area made out of cheap wood, which Carr called “a plywood Stonehenge”. Amy went to the losers couch. She was not coming back.

Carr is proving to be the star of this series, jollying everyone along and keeping the laughs coming. I’m particularly loving the way he sends each loser off with cries of, “She’ll have an amazing career”, after everything he has said about their creations.

As for our Barbara, her team’s office was praised as a professional looking job. There can be no higher compliment among interior designers it seems. Next week there are bedrooms to be given a luxury makeover. Come on the Babs!