In normal times - remember them? - having an exclusive interview with the Prime Minister would be considered a coup for any broadcaster.

But such was the pace of events on Sunday, Trevor Phillips’ sit-down with Rishi Sunak for Sky News struggled to make its mark, save for the Prime Minister failing to rule out a July general election.

There was so much happening, so fast, the Sunday politics shows began to resemble one long speed-dating session.

Ding! Here’s Dr Dan Poulter on BBC1’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. The MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich has defected from the Tories to Labour on the eve of make-or-break local elections. Should make good pictures in the Commons on Monday.

Ding! Next along was Wes Streeting, shadow health secretary, saying he was “not aware” of any offer to Poulter of a place in the Lords.

Ding! Now joining us from Aberdeenshire is Alex Salmond.

Ding! No, hang on, having trouble with the link. Raining in Aberdeenshire.

Ding! Former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford apologises to Scottish Greens for way Humza Yousaf treated them. Mr Blackford is not standing again at the general election.

Ding! UK LibDem leader Ed Davey says the Scottish LibDems won’t be taking up Humza Yousaf’s invitation to talks.

Ding! Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater accuses First Minister of “spectacular breach of trust”. Won’t save him personally but could be “substantially different Scottish Government” by time of vote on Labour motion.

Other dings may have been lost in the din, but you get the general idea. It was, as Kuenssberg said, a “busy morning for news”.

If the Prime Minister was struggling to command the spotlight, what chance did anyone else have, you might wonder. The answer to that turned up quicker than a producer could say, “Who’s got a number for Alex Salmond?

Wherever he went, on television and radio, the former First Minister did his best to make every show The Salmond Show.

READ MORE Yousaf 'set to face consequences'

READ MORE Inside story of Greens in meltdown

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The first question he should have been asked was, “Where is Ash Regan?” Salmond after all hailed Alba’s sole MSP as the most powerful member of the Scottish Parliament, with her vote critical in deciding Yousaf’s fate. Why wasn’t she the one being interviewed?

The answer: because Salmond is still broadcast box office. No editor is going to say no, they would rather hear from Regan. Plus, he is the party leader. Even so, the optics are awful, for Regan and Alba.

It was left to Kuenssberg to ask Salmond the most telling question of the day.

“As a backer of independence you’ve devoted so much of your life to it,” said the former BBC political editor. “Would you really sink an SNP government? Isn’t perhaps what is going on here that you, as the leader of a tiny party that didn’t win any seats in 2021, are actually just enjoying this moment rather a lot?”

Not quite Mrs Merton to Debbie McGee but in the same postcode. There was a moment’s silence, which the charitable would put down to a delay on the line rather than Salmond being momentarily non-plussed.

Salmond countered by claiming Alba would win seats at the next Scottish election “whenever it is”. He cited a poll that put support for Alba at 15%, which would translate into 20 MSPs by his calculation. Was this the same poll, commissioned by Alba, that asked 1000 Scots who would make the best First Minister? Some 15% backed Salmond, but 25.8% opted for Yousaf.

Next to feature in the Salmond Show was Martin Geissler of BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show. Geissler was in his element, interviewing Slater, Salmond, and Douglas Ross in quick succession. He could easily have filled the hour, but come 10.30am the clock struck and it was over to the radio.

The only parties not at party were Labour and the SNP. Despite “a long day of dialogue” between the programme and the party on Saturday, no one would appear to speak on Yousaf’s behalf. That alone spoke volumes, though Geissler did not say so.

First cab off the rank (electric, natch) was Slater, live from Edinburgh. She provided a glimpse inside the room at Bute House where Humza Yousaf gave her and co-leader Patrick Harvie their marching orders last Thursday.

Their initial response, said Slater, was to tell the First Minister that this was “not a good idea”.

Raised voices, asked Geissler?

“Absolutely not. Very civil,” said Slater. The shock and anger must have come later, right before the co-leaders gave that blistering statement to the media at Holyrood.

Second cab off the rank (diesel) was Salmond, who was informed that some SNP MPs were less than thrilled at any sort of deal with Alba. Among them was Stewart McDonald, who said on X, formerly Twitter: “Never a question we could do a deal with Salmond - a former host on RT. It would go down like a bucket of cold sick with voters and be met with horror in European capitals. To cut a deal with such a figure as Russian bombs thud into Ukraine would be reputation shredding.”

In response, Salmond called McDonald “a lightweight”, which prompted the MP to post a picture of a full Scottish breakfast with the caption, “I’ll no’ be a lightweight after this.”

Just when you though the day could hardly get sillier, Salmond popped up on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips to dismiss the Glasgow South MP as a "travel agent”.

“He cares a lot about European capitals, I think his former profession was a travel agent. A really significant thing is he’s not in the Scottish Parliament, he doesn’t have to face the political arithmetic.”

Salmond had once faced the parliamentary arithmetic, but no-one asked him anything about that now ancient history. A topic for another day perhaps.

With that he was off to a meeting of Alba to decide the party’s next moves. Rest assured, this new and unexpected series of The Salmond Show has a while to run yet.