HOSPITAL PEOPLE, BBC1, 9.30pm
SO farewell then, Hospital People. Did no-one appreciate you but I?Tonight is the last episode in the series and judging by the viewers’ scathing reactions on Twitter, it won’t be back for a second series, which is a terrible shame. BBC1 comedy on Friday nights is normally appalling, so this funny wee mockumentary was a breath of fresh air.
Maybe its nippy critics will start to appreciate it after its gone and we have terrible things like Citizen Khan back in its place.
For tonight’s finale, the team decide to record a charity single to raise money for the hospital, which gives poor Ivan Brackenbury another faint whiff of the showbiz fame he’ll never have.
THE SUMMER OF LOVE: HOW HIPPIES CHANGED THE WORLD, BBC4, 9pm
SAN Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district in 1967 invited “dreamers” looking for a new way to live. They wanted free love, free drugs and free thinking. “It was paradise!” declares one former hippie.
But you don’t get something for nothing, as this concluding part of the documentary shows.
“Free love” seemed to translate into abuse and degradation for some women, and the free thinking produced anarchist groups such as the wacky mob known as The Diggers.
Known as the "Robin Hoods of Haight Asbury”, they wanted “a society where everything is shared, everything free,” but instead of sorting out some concrete plans, they just built a big wooden frame called “The Free Frame Of Reference” and everyone who stepped through it could claim a free bowl of stew. Free love and free stew, man!
But “no sooner had the party begun than it started to unravel”, and the American government used heavy-handed tactics to break up their “paradise”, fearing this could tip into revolution.
The programme claims that while the hippies failed politically, they triumphed culturally.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here