Highland Cops was no French Connection but it had its moments

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.

The bird woman of Ballachulish managed to get hold of the cormorant while avoiding having her eyes pecked out. Carried down to the water’s edge it went on its way, none the worse for its ordeal. It hadn’t quite been the car chase scene from The French Connection but it had its moments.

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Elsewhere, the episode followed the search for a missing walker. Frank, 74, from Dorset, had come to Skye to bag another Munro. If you had been following the news you would have known the headline outcome already. What we saw here in detail was the effort and care that had gone into finding the missing visitor. The search concluded, we watched a police officer carefully pack up the pensioner’s things to send on to his family. “Sorry Frank,” said the cop. “Sorry.”

Back in the land of fictional policing, we met Ellis (Channel 5, Thursday). The titular DI, played by Sharon D Clarke, had a tough beat to walk, being number 56,890 in the queue of TV detectives competing for viewers’ attention. Or at least it seems that way sometimes.

Ellis was a troubleshooter, sent in wherever an investigation was failing. You can imagine how popular that made her with the local plods. As a black woman officer of a certain age, she was also no stranger to racism and sexism within the ranks.

So far, so novel, but that didn’t last long. Ellis, we learned, had just come back from gardening leave, and she had a daughter from whom she was possibly estranged. Just another maverick cop with secrets, then (we don’t even know her first name). That was disappointing, but Clarke is excellent and her partnership with eager young DS Harper (Andrew Gower) looks promising.

The Diplomat (Netflix) returned for a second series. The Emmy-nominated mix of comedy and political thriller is one of the strangest shows on the streamer, no mean achievement when you share living space with Is it Cake?

Starring Keri Russell as Kate Wyler, a rising star American ambassador to London, and her husband Hal (Rufus Sewell), whose glory days in foreign affairs are supposed to be behind him, The Diplomat is a curious blend of light and shade. One minute the vibe is The West Wing, the next Sex and the City by way of Homeland. It ought not to work but it does, courtesy of Deborah Cahn, who created The Diplomat and just so happens to be a former producer-writer on The West Wing and Homeland.

There is a bonus for West Wingers in this series with the arrival of the new Veep. I’ll reveal no more for fear of spoiling the fun, but let’s just say the jackal has landed.

Generation Z (Image: James Pardon)

Generation Z (Channel 4, Sunday-Monday) arrived in time for Halloween. Deep in the heart of England, a military lorry crashes, spilling its toxic load. Next thing the residents of a local retirement home have become flesh-eating Zombies (are there any other kind?), the town is in chaos, and troops have been called in to halt the mayhem.

Directed by Ben Wheatley (A Field in England, Kill Cast), the “generations at war” story - baby boomers scarfing all the good stuff - was a smart take. Plus there was an A-team cast including Sue Johnston, Robert Lindsay, Anita Dobson and Johnny Vegas. They were having a blast, but the viewer looking for laughs from this satire would have come away hungry. Shaun of the Dead did it first and best.

A far more terrifying tale was to be found in the documentary Eternal You (BBC4, Wednesday), which looked at the growing market in putting people “in touch” with their dearly departed - for a fee, naturally.

It is artificial intelligence up to its tricks again, using information supplied by the living to mimic the dead. You type in a question and back comes an answer based on what the computer has learned. Newer versions have animated versions of loved ones.

The hip young software creators argued it was a way of helping people with their grief. Well they would, wouldn’t they? To me it looked like a high-tech version of the psychics who preyed on grieving families after the First World War, with just as gruesome results.

One expert said AI was now at the place Twitter was 10 years ago. And just look how well that turned out. Permission to be afraid, very afraid, granted.