Sex on Screen; Landscape Artist of the Year; Call the Midwife

After watching Storyville: Sex on Screen (BBC4, Tuesday, 10pm), the only wonder is that intimacy coordinators took so long to arrive. It has been the wild west out there, especially for women, and high time there were some new sheriffs in town.

Directed by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, Sex on Screen’s list of talking heads includes actors, writers, producers, technicians and film historians. It opens with Jane Fonda, who has seen times and attitudes change in the industry and adapted her coping strategies accordingly.

Speaking about her nudity and sex scenes in Barbarella, directed by her then-husband, Roger Vadim, Fonda says: “I just got drunk basically.”

Barbarella was released in 1968. Ironically, the wild and free days of the 1960s and 1970s were worse for actors than the 1920s and 1930s. Then, the ratio of women to men, particularly among writers, was more like 50:50.

When women wrote strong characters for women big stars were born, including Bette Davis, Mae West, and Greta Garbo. “They were naughty women, dangerous women,” says Fonda. Crucially, they headlined films that brought in lots of money, and this gave them the power to set their own terms.

After a rash of scandals, and with state censorship looming, Hollywood introduced its own production code.

Under this, kisses had to be no more than three seconds long, both feet had to be kept on the floor, and there would be no sex before marriage, unless the outcome was tragic.

Not that any of this halted sexism in the industry. One contributor recalls “bikini days”, when studios invited executives and directors to peruse women at mass auditions.

Today, actors have contracts that set out, in explicit detail, what can and cannot be shown and what they will and won’t do. For everything else there are body doubles, innovative camera angles, and computers.

There is a fascinating scene of a visual effects supervisor at work, making an actor younger/slimmer/unblemished. The requests most often come from the actors themselves, he says.

The strongest voice among the commentators belongs to Rose McGowan, whose bravery and whistleblowing led to the founding of the #MeToo campaign against sexual abuse and harassment.

Once you have heard her take on movies featuring supposedly strong women – step forward Kill Bill – you will never look at such pictures the same way again.

Things are changing, says an optimistic Fonda, and the more women there are making movies the better it will get.

Jane Fonda starred in Barbarella in 1968, retrospectively calling into question the role of women and sex on film (Image: Paramount)

It’s the finale of Landscape Artist of the Year (free to view Sky Arts, Wednesday, 8pm). From 48 painters it comes down to two men and a woman duking it out in the surreal surroundings of Portmeirion in North Wales.

“Duke” is not quite the right term to use with this lovely show. Landscape Artist of the Year, like its sister programme, Portrait Artist, is a haven of civility. Where else would a host race off to buy an emergency ice cream for a frazzled contestant on a blisteringly hot day? Step forward Stephen Mangan, co-host of the series with Dame Joan Bakewell.

With its riot of architectural styles and whimsical features, Portmeirion seems the ideal place for the artists to draw inspiration.

Yet one contender finds the location offers almost too much. “It’s totally discombobulating,” he says. Another compares it to being on a film set. For the judges, the task is all about editing, choosing what to focus on, and how to convey it.

The artists set up shop in the show’s pods, and as the day goes on they attract increasing interest from visitors. Between this, the heat, and the general stress of competition, it’s a wonder only one emergency ice cream is required.

At the end of the road is the prize of a £10,000 commission for Royal Museums Greenwich. You can see how the eventual winner gets on in the final episode of the series, which starts straight after at 9pm.

Also shutting up shop for the summer is Call the Midwife (BBC1, Sunday, 8pm). Finally, Trixie and her intended, Matthew, make it to the big day. Will it all go without a hitch? Has any finale to any series of Call the Midwife ever gone without a hitch?

Fans of the drama can comfort themselves with the knowledge that two more series have been commissioned.