Kevin McCloud is a nice chap. He needs to be. As was clear in Grand Designs: 25 years and Counting (Channel 4, Wednesday), it has often fallen to Kevin to approach people at the absolute worst points in their self-builds and ask cheerily how things are going.

Some of these brave souls were pregnant ladies who had spent the last year in freezing caravans, thus adding to the risk of Kevin receiving a robust verbal response to his enquiries. But onwards he ploughed, comforting the budget-busting dreamers with an “Oh gosh” here and an “Oh dear” there.

No one could say they had not been warned. In one of many slickly edited sequences that probably took ages to do but whizzed by in seconds, we saw Kevin tell viewers that building your own home was like “going on an adventure without a map or a compass” or “an epic journey” that usually overruns and costs much more than you thought it would. Kevin’s hairline receded as the clips progressed, doubtless in sympathy with his subjects.

He had selected some of the more memorable builds from the last quarter century, starting with the first house in Sussex in 1999. Visiting the place now it was reassuring to see the couple were still together, and that the house was still standing.

It wasn’t all happy ever afters. No Grand Designs retrospective would be complete without the famous Devon cliff-top home that cost a marriage and an arm and a leg, and is now owned by a property company.

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But by and large it had turned out well for the self-builders. Kevin was in such high spirits at the end that he encouraged a new generation of viewers to have a go. Aye right, Kevin. Behave yourself.

If Grand Designs was a cautionary tale about the stress involved in chasing a dream, The Teacher (Channel 5, Monday-Thursday) sounded the alarm about canoodling in a woodshed when you are supposed to be supervising a group of lairy teenagers on an outward-bound course. Forehead-slappingly obvious really, but that’s never stopped a Channel 5 drama before. Onwards we ploughed.

Kudos to the writers for taking what looked like an open and shut case and spinning it out over four nights. The cast helped, being watchable sorts Kara Tointon as the teacher taught a lesson, Will Mellor as her colleague, and Emmett J Scanlon, he of the Irish accent and slick-backed hair, without whom no crime drama can take place (he was also in the recent ITV drama, The Tower).

The best comedy moments of the week were to be had in the Trump-Harris debate (“They’re eating the dogs! They’re eating the cats!”). If it was horror you were after, Matt Frei came through with Trump: Should We Be Scared? (Channel 4, Monday), an hour-long look at what a second term might hold.

Frei summed up the general vibe as, “This time it’s personal. No more Mr Nice Guy.” Like Kevin McCloud, Frei is a nice guy, and his 30 years of covering the US have given him a fat contacts book. A couple of his interviewees would have been familiar to viewers, others less so, but all had something interesting and new to say.

A high point was his appearance on a Spanish-language radio station in Florida. Naturally he was fluent - his native language is German - and of course he started interviewing the interviewer. “Don’t people want someone moral in the White House?” he asked her. “Moral like who, Bill Clinton?” she shot back.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris shake hands before the start of an ABC News presidential debate (Image: Alex Brandon)

FYI, according to the film, a second Trump term is likely to feature mass deportations, more Trump placemen and women in government, lots of drilling for energy sources, quitting Nato, and the arrest of the committee examining the January 6 invasion of the Capitol by Trump supporters. So, nothing to worry about. Phew!

The National TV Awards (ITV1, Wednesday), voted on by the public, are always a good way of assessing whether critics and viewers are on the same page of the TV Times. By and large they were, with Mr Bates vs the Post Office winning three awards. Good to see Sort Your Life Out taking best factual entertainment.

Some successes will forever be a mystery (take a bow Mrs Brown’s Boys), while others (Strictly) had a whiff of Buggins’ turn about them. It’s either a corner turned after a rotten summer for the BBC’s flagship programme, or a last hurrah before the slide.

Coronation Street’s Peter Ash was a clear winner of the best actor statuette for his performance as motor neurone disease sufferer Paul. All concerned have handled the storyline with commendable restraint while never skimping on the sheer bloody tragedy of it all. You would expect nothing less of Corrie, but it is always a wonder to see such a difficult task done so well.

Sherwood (BBC1, Sunday-Monday) ended with a couple of bangs and a splash, which sounds more thrilling than it was. After a strong start, the drama was overtaken by the heavy-handed politics of the piece. I can’t see this pulling off a Mr Bates at next year’s NTAs, but what do critics know?