COLD FEET, STV, 9pm
ADAM (James Nesbitt) kicks off this second episode in typical cheeky chappie fashion. Standing at the altar with his beautiful bride who’s waiting for him to say “I do”, he starts to panic.
He sorts out his worries in the toilets, telling his pals after the ceremony that he can’t go and live in Singapore with his new wife like he told her he would. He can’t leave his son at such a difficult age. “When would be the best time to break it to her?” he asks.
“Er, before you got married?” is the reply.
So while Adam panics and frets as he goes through “the five stages of grief – and all before take off”, poor old Pete is the opposite.
He’s sunken in a terrible depression, with no money and no hope. Jenny is similarly fed-up with her lot, and tries to recapture the spark by suggesting a bit of bedroom role play, but poor Pete has no appetite for anything.
BRITISH SITCOM: 60 YEARS OF LAUGHING AT OURSELVES, BBC4, 9pm
EVEN the most ferocious Scottish nationalist would have to admit Britain is quite brilliant when it comes to sitcoms, and this documentary celebrates the best of the past sixty years.
The show starts back in the black and white 1950s, dishing up some of Hancock’s Half Hour, and then it takes us forward, claiming that as sitcoms evolved they tried to reflect the social and cultural changes in society. So we can grasp a humorous social history of Britain by watching its sitcoms.
Steptoe and Son was sitcom’s first working class family, and then shows such as Bread and Only Fools and Horses carried that onwards. The Likely Lads was the first to be set in the north of England and The Liver Birds the first with female lead characters.
But if the changing face of Britain isn’t your thing, you can simply enjoy the talking heads here, who include comedy greats such as Steve Coogan, Richard Curtis and Graham Linehan.
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