HOW SCOTLAND WORKS, BBC2, 9pm
THIS new series looks at how Scotland’s infrastructure keeps people and things travelling, transporting and ticking along.
It sounds quite dull, especially as we only think of infrastructure when things go wrong – whether it’s the closure of the Forth Bridge, train delays or ferry cancellations – but this new series shows us the people who sail the ships, fly the planes, build the roads and repair the rails, which prods us to look at it in a new light. We’re seeing the people behind our infrastructure, not a faceless PR person issuing yet another press release to explain, excuse and apologise.
Tonight, two “road geeks” meet an old man who went to San Francisco to work on America’s vast freeways, bringing his knowledge home to build Glasgow’s motorways in the 50s. He describes it as assembling a huge, intricate puzzle. It’s a fresh look at motorways when we tend to notice only roadworks and delays.
Likewise with Glasgow’s Underground. If a tunnel is closed for repairs we’ll grumble, but rarely think of the orange-suited engineers who work through the night in its ghostly, subterranean darkness. We meet them here and they’re surprisingly jolly.
CAMPING, SKY ATLANTIC, 10pm
THE final two episodes of this horrifying, uncomfortable, but utterly brilliant sitcom go out tonight.
The previous four have produced flinches, cringes and desperately awkward moments but tonight’s go completely off the scale! It lurches into violently bleak territory this evening, so be warned: if you already found Camping painful, tonight you might actually require some Ibuprofen.
Robin and Fi host a party in the barn to celebrate his birthday and mark the end of the camping holiday. Despite the innocent cake, pop music and party hats, it descends into utter depravity, becoming like a drugged-up version of The League of Gentlemen.
And there’s a surprising amount of full-frontal nudity involved, though not from the hunky Adam or good-looking Fay. It’s from the creepy and nameless little man who owns the campsite: he bursts out of the shadows tonight in his perverted, naked, gasping glory when Fay’s drug supply loosens everyone’s inhibitions and unleashes an animalistic chaos.
I felt wonderfully shocked and shaken by the time the credits rolled. Bravo!
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