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The State Channel4.com, until September 22, episodes 1-4 This has been controversial from the opening episode, broadcast some weeks ago on Channel4, but as the series progressed, as characters and plot developed and subtleties were enhanced, controversy lessened — leaving behind appreciation for a clever, well-written, utterly absorbing drama. Peter Kosminsky was the brains behind The Promise, a drama about the Arab-Israeli conflict, some years ago. Here, he tackles Isil, or more specifically, the young British people who leave home to go and serve as recruits in Syria.

Set in 2015 and focussing on four British extremists, two young men, a teenage girl and an older woman — played by Sam Otto, Ryan McKen, Shavani Cameron (left) and Ony Uhiara.

The action in the first episode centres around their reception from Isil recruiters — there’s a swimming pool in the training complex, leading one of them to quip ‘fivestar Jihad’ — but the really unexpected, hard-to-watch stuff is the way Kosminsky develops the close sense of community they find.

Over the next three episodes, this cosy sense is subverted and challenged, and the result is a television show that is clever, often uncomfortable to watch, and gripping. Scannal: Gibraltar RTE Player, until September 13; season 14, episode 1 Here, RTE’s excellent archive series goes back to 1988, to the killing of three unarmed IRA members in Gibraltar, by the SAS. Sean Savage, Daniel McCann, and Mairead Farrell were believed to be planning a bombing attack on British military personnel stationed in Gibraltar.

In an operation code-named ‘Flavius’, plain-clothed SAS soldiers approached the three in the forecourt of a petrol station, then opened fire, killing them, only to find all three were unarmed. Here, events are recalled, and the aftermath which played out in Northern Ireland is analysed. EMILY HOURICAN