There has been a lot of H2O under the bridge since Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing (BBC2, Sunday) first aired in 2018. What began as a tiddler of a show about two blokes with heart problems learning to take life easy, has become an established part of the television landscape.
Five series in, Whitehouse is a campaigner for clean rivers, while Mortimer has written two books and become semi-professional at falling over. He was at it again - falling over - as the sixth run began in Mid Wales on the rivers Irfon and Wye.
The pair get along so effortlessly they need hardly do anything to give off a relaxing vibe. There is still a competitive, big brother-little brother edge to their friendship, with Whitehouse remaining the leader. But even he is in danger of being eclipsed by the newest member of the pack, Ted the Patterdale terrier.
The shots of Ted on sniffari now rival the fishing scenes in number. He even had a sub-plot of his own this week (it was his 10th birthday). The wee fella has been utterly shameless in bigging up his part and good luck to him. With a fair wind he could have his own BBC3 show by Christmas.
There was plenty of stardust sprinkled in Countryfile: Dame Judi Dench Special (BBC1, Sunday). I must admit the spirits sank a little on seeing the title. Here we go again, another celeb coming up here, taking our travelogue jobs. Happily, Dame J was not that kind of soldier, having first come to Scotland in nineteen canteen. Besides spending a lifetime of summers here, she made two films in which she played a visiting Queen Victoria.
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There was a touch of a royal visit about the hour. The Countryside team had set up lots for her to see and do, including watching her own tartan being made. One half expected her to pull a cord at one point and declare somewhere open.
It was all very jolly, but rather a snooze. Then along came Hamza Yassin, filmmaker and Strictly champ, to see if he could help Dame Judi fulfil a lifelong dream to see a golden eagle in the wild.
A speck of something appeared in the clouds then vanished. Was that it? Of course it wasn’t. An ending was on the way that would have made the corniest of Hollywood scriptwriters blush. Smashing.
The Inheritance (Channel 5, Monday) featured more wildlife, in this case a herd of lesser-spotted will squabblers. It opened with home movie footage of a seemingly happy family, so it was only a matter of time before all heck erupted.
Sure enough, dad (Larry Lamb) died, leaving everything not to his three grown children James , but to some stranger claiming to be his new wife. Played by Samantha Bond, step-mommie dearest was clearly not going to walk away from a fight, and neither were the kids who all needed the cash for their own reasons.
There was a pleasing whiff of melodrama in the air as battle lines were drawn, but the skillful cast kept control. Like some grim up north version of Succession, by episode end everyone was behaving extremely badly with the promise of more to come over the next three weeks.
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The door closed on another series of Couples Therapy (BBC2, Thursday), this one the best yet. The enigmatic doctor Orna has always been the show’s secret sauce. No matter how many visits we paid to her Brooklyn consulting room - this season alone ran to 18 episodes - she remained a mystery wrapped in a weirdly structured jacket.
That changed courtesy of a young couple who had looked like being a right pain at first. Christine and Nadine said they wanted an open relationship but were they really on the same page? Away and find a real problem was my initial diagnosis.
But the pair were a delight. All three women turned out to have links to the Middle East. A bond was forged, a connection made, so much so that parting, when it came, was sorrowful but very sweet.
Scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder published a study this week showing that the whole odd couple thing is a myth, and that birds of a feather are more likely to get together. Like that is ever going to stop a writer lighting a spark between a supermarket worker and a TV reporter, as happened in The Lovers (Sky Atlantic/Now, Thursday).
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It would be horribly unbelievable save for the fact the writer is David Ireland, a playwright who thrives on the not so sunny side of the street. Set in his native Belfast and starring the excellent Roisin Gallagher (The Dry) as a nihilistic shelf stacker (is there any other kind?) who might, just might, have clicked with uber-eejit Seamus (Johnny Flynn), who fancies himself as hotshot reporter but inside is a bundle of neuroses.
Dr Orna could sort them out in one episode, but I think Ireland’s way is going to be a lot more fun.
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