No words are more guaranteed to ruin a TV reviewer’s day than “and now a new six-part comedy series from BBC Scotland”.
Glenn Campbell has done countless pieces to camera in the two decades-plus he has been reporting on politics for BBC Scotland. Political births, deaths, the occasional marriage, he has looked directly into the lens and told viewers what’s what. Nothing, however, will ever have as much impact as the reports he delivers in a new documentary showing tonight on BBC1. My Brain Tumour and Me is a first-rate dispatch from the front line of the cancer battle, and contains some of the most extraordinary scenes you are likely to see on television this year.
From all corners of the kingdom they came, determined to have their say about inheritance tax. A sea of waxed jackets and jeans as far as the eye could see, and among the polite protesters stood their unofficial leader, risen from his sick bed to be there. Jeremy Clarkson, TV presenter, celebrity farmer and now folk hero. He’s not been well lately. Had a heart op. But he defied doctors’ orders to stay home and avoid stress, so incensed is he at 20% tax being levied on farms worth more than £1m if they are handed down the family.
Being clueless about pop music brought them perilously close to shaming Scotland in the first round of University Challenge. But now St Andrews had a chance to regain some R.E.S.P.E.C.T by bagging one of the last places in the second round of the UK’s longest-running quiz. Starter for ten: could they do it?
Appearing on Sky News's Sunday with Trevor Phillips, Fiona Hill said: “I was sent to Washington last time around to tell Reince Priebus, who was then Trump’s chief of staff, that there was no way in the world that we’d have Nigel Farage in any way involved, and I was happy to give that message.”
Reviewed: Until I Kill You, Asia, The Day of the Jackal, Hollywoodgate. Until I Kill You (STV, Sun-Weds) was one to approach with caution, despite the obvious quality of the cast and the “this is a true story” billing (with the usual qualifications). Another story of women being terrorised by a man? Seen plenty of those, and no matter how well-intentioned they often come across as exploitative.
Shetland returns for ninth series despite the loss of a key character in Douglas Henshall’s Jimmy Perez
The former leader of the Scottish Conservatives has compared imposing inheritance tax on farms to the pasty tax, an idea (from the mind of Tory Chancellor George Osborne no less) so obviously wicked it was reversed soon after. The NFU says it has never seen farmers as angry as they are over the inheritance tax move. Many fear they won’t be able to hand farms to their sons and daughters without landing them with a huge tax bill. Farms will go out of business, they warn. Food supplies will suffer. The government says only a minority of the wealthiest landowners will be hit.
Gone are the days when new employees would be sent for a tin of tartan paint, a long weight, or other jokey requests. In certain trades, however, there are still induction processes to go through, tests that have to be passed. For new party leaders these include the acceptance speech to the party faithful, the first Prime Minister’s Questions, and the first major broadcast interview. Kemi Badenoch, the new leader of the Conservative Party, did the first on that list on Saturday and will do the second on Wednesday. The third took place on BBC1’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. So how did the heir to Thatcher, Major, Hague, Cameron, et al fare? Well, it was different.
Reviewed: Highland Cops; Generation Z; The Diplomat; Eternal You: The makers of Highland Cops (BBC Scotland, Sunday) had thrown everything at their task: Brian Cox giving it laldy on the narration; acres upon acres of majestic landscapes; and a woman with a towel rescuing a stranded cormorant. The latter “op” was carried out by a local wildlife expert, with PCs Stephen and Roddy assisting - one to manage what traffic there was at that time of night on the Ballachulish bridge, the other helping to shepherd the bird towards the lady with the towel. Pure Scot Squad.
