SCOT SQUAD, BBC1, 10.35pm
SCOT Squad joins Limmy’s Show in being one of the best comedies Scotland has produced in recent years but which the BBC won’t deign to show across Britain.
Anyone outside Scotland probably won’t have heard of these little gems and will have no chance of accidentally alighting on them as they channel surf. Instead, they’ll need to seek them out on iPlayer, having been given a recommendation from one of us fortunate enough to be served by BBC Scotland.
But fair enough, you might say. It’s a Scottish show, so broadcast it in Scotland. Perhaps England or Wales are producing enough scintillating comedies and so have no need to look north for material.
Yes, you might say that, but I doubt it considering that BBC are overlooking these Scottish shows in favour of sitcoms which are truly embarrassing, such as Citizen Khan or the recent Sun Trap. These limp little tragedies get a nationwide audience. The superior Scottish ones don’t. In the independence debate I have little problem with the BBC but this is one aspect of how they deal with Scotland which aggravates me.
This week, the police pull over a clown in a dody Clio and end up wrestling “Bongo Buttons” to the ground, whilst Bobby wolfs a box of bananas to impress Officer Karen then says: “Ah better go cos ma legs ur startin’ to go numb.”
LONDON SPY, BBC2, 9pm
BEING a TV critic might seem like an ideal job to some folk, but it can be disheartening to constantly watch telly when so much of it is inferior or lacklustre. That’s why I’m loving London Spy so much: at last something spectacular has arrived.
The first episode was tantalising but the second delves even deeper into murk and mystery.
Danny, right, is appalled at the sleazy speculation in the tabloids about Alex’s death and so, in his naivety, he goes to the papers to tell “the truth”. Naturally, the journalists react with glee at getting a scoop with the gay lover of the kinky dead spy and they splash more sordid lies across their front pages.
The garish media speculation, plus Danny’s story in the papers, prompts an invite to meet Alex’s parents, whom he’d been led to believe were dead. Arriving at their home, he finds them very stern and cold, particularly the father who’s played by an icy David Hayman. But his confusion over Alex’s death worsens when a mysterious figure, played by Charlotte Rampling, enters the scene.
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