MOTHERLAND, BBC2, 10pm
THIS is quite a dark episode, dealing with jealousy, lies and anger. Liz’s former partner has a new girlfriend, Debbie-Louise, and she wonders in disgust what type of person “double-barrels two stupid names!”
Liz is slightly envious of the new woman and demands a meeting with her, but when she sees how she has redecorated the flat, Liz is horrified. There are nice cushions and pot pourri everywhere.
“I don’t agree with it,” she sneers. “You don’t agree with perfumed bark?” asks Julia.
Kevin is going for couples counselling, but insists “it’s just preventative”, and is a bit like physio or yoga. “We’re just doing it to keep the marriage supple.”
And we get a revealing glimpse at Amanda, the perfect mum’s, unhappy home life.
But the main issue is not relationships and strife, but the agonising politics of getting a slot in the mums’ car-pool rota.
INVASION! WITH SAM WILLIS, BBC4, 9pm
BREXITEERS probably won’t like this new series. Over three episodes, historian Sam Willis tells stories of how Britain has been invaded throughout the centuries. It will upset those who like to think Britain is snug and separate, protected from the barbarian hordes by the trickle of the English Channel or the shallow North Sea.
Interestingly, he talks not just of invasion, but of “the fear of invasion”. Again, it’s impossible not to think of Brexit. He shows how Britain has been shaped by invasions of ice and of farmers, of foodies and fashions, and of the more brutal incursions by Romans, Saxons and Vikings.
Tonight’s first episode starts with ice: glaciers moved in from the north and pushed the population out. As the ice retreated, people resettled, and with their emerging farming techniques they changed the landscape forever.
Willis then moves to Hadrian’s Wall to show how the “frenzy” of the Roman invasion was halted in the north, and was also challenged in the south by Boudica.
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