BURNISTOUN, BBC1, 10.35pm

It took me such a long time to write this short preview because I kept going back online to watch the show again. Every time I’d flex my fingers to write about one of the characters, I’d start laughing like a goon and would want to view the sketch again, especially the bold return of Jolly Boy John. I must have replayed that weird one about seven times…but what does it mean?

I’ve found that the best comedy is the stuff that has me spluttering “what does this mean?” You laugh at how utterly surreal it all is, wonder what the hell it means, then just shrug the question off and laugh regardless.

That’s what happened when I watched Jolly Boy John capering around in his bedroom with toy squirrels on his shoulder and his dad’s bunnet protecting his modesty, I was crying with laughter, but still asking myself “what does this mean?” I came to the conclusion that there is no answer or, at least, none that I can give. It’s just deliriously funny and it’s “FOR REAL!”

This is just a one-off show, called Burnistoun’s Big Night. Please, BBC, make some more….for real.


 THE SCANDALOUS LADY W, BBC2, 9pm

 Was every society lady from the 18th century rebellious, beautiful and highly sexual? That’s what films and novels depicting the period would have us believe, squeezing every aristocratic woman into a corseted, low-cut dress, choking her with diamonds, and topping the outfit with a massive hat bobbing flirtatiously with feathers. Contrast the popular image of the lascivious 18th century woman with that of the demure, blushing

Victorian lady and it’s clear the 18th century was the time for fun, whereas the 19th was the time for duty, with women responsible for child-rearing, sending forth sons and husbands to build an Empire.

This feature-length drama is about the notorious

Lady Worsley. She scandalised society by dumping her husband and running off with her lover, who was also her husband’s best friend, Captain George Bisset.

Her husband, furious and humiliated, initiated a very public court case wherein he demanded compensation from Bisset for the loss of his wife, reminding us of the hideous notion that a wife was once considered merely the property of her husband. 


REVENGE PORN, C4, 10pm

This one-off documentary, presented by Anna Richardson, looks at the horrible trend known as “revenge porn”.

In the old days, a couple who wanted to have intimate photos of themselves could buy a Polaroid camera and snap away in the privacy of their bedroom. Should the relationship go sour, both parties could simply cut the photo into pieces, and be secure in the knowledge that the photo – once alluring but now perhaps embarrassing – had been destroyed. But with the use of camera phones and social media, that security has vanished. A photo taken on a mobile can be saved, cropped, duplicated, zoomed in upon and, worst of all, shared online with billions of people.

Richardson meets some of the victims of “revenge porn”, where their ex-partner has shared their intimate photos online in an attempt to shame and humiliate them, and she even confronts some of the perpetrators. This leads her into an online community of men who delight in the sexual humiliation of women and Richardson takes extreme measures to get to the heart of this vile trend. 


SHOW ME A HERO, SKY ATLANTIC, 9pm

Winona Ryder is back! They say you’re old if you think the 90s was only ten years ago – but it was. It has to be! The 90s, when Winona was the star of all the cool films, was surely but ten short years ago…yet the calendar says differently, as does all the hype around this new six-part drama which is declaring Winona is back.

It’s based on a real-life situation from the 1980s when poor black families were imported into a wealthy white neighbourhood in

New York. A federal law was passed, declaring that affordable housing had to be built in the affluent, white Yonkers neighbourhood. The occupants of these new homes were mainly lower-class black families, and so the decision stirred up a lot of race, and class, hatred - although they say America isn’t concerned with class, so let’s just call it what it is: snobbery.

Nick is a young politician who’s voted in as Mayor on the back of his opposition to the new housing, but he quickly sees he has no option but to allow it to happen, and his rich white voters start to get angry.