Scott heads for heights
THERE’S a huge chunk of THE TRUTH ABOUT IMPROVING YOUR MENTAL HEALTH (BBC One, 9pm) that I’m not allowed to tell you about. Well, OK, maybe “huge” is over-egging it a tad – it’s a segment that lasts just under seven minutes – but it’s big enough for the BBC to have stamped a strict embargo on it, meaning I mustn’t reveal its content ahead of transmission or else.
Fair enough, I suppose.And yet at the same time slightly odd. You’d think that if they really cared that much about our mental health, they’d be desperate to share such vital info at the first opportunity, rather than keep it a secret so we’re forced to watch one of their programmes. It’s almost as if they really just care about ratings.
Luckily, there are other bits of this programme – presented by Alex Scott and Professor Tanya Byron – that it’s fine for me to go into detail about.And, in fairness to them, there’s plenty that’s genuinely revealing-ish.
For example, there’s a bit where a professor from Brighton takes Alex up the i360 observation tower on the seafront (or “The Ugly Stick”, as those of us confronted with it every day prefer to call it), to demonstrate a way she can manage her anxiety.
Alex, you see, hates heights, as any sensible person does, but the professor reckons that by “tuning in” to our heartbeats, we can actually bring those anxiety levels down.
Elsewhere, another prof tells Alex that the stress-reducing benefits of exercise can be further boosted if we simultaneously challenge our brains.
Ways to do this, he suggests, include “dancing, rock-climbing or listening to a podcast”.
The sort of person who hears those three options and doesn’t automatically think: “Well, obviously I’m going to go for option three, I’m not insane” is Julia Bradbury, who tonight sets out on the latest of her
CORNWALL AND DEVON WALKS (ITV, 8pm).
This episode takes Julia to Dartmoor (“368 square miles of wild gorgeousness…”), where ahead of her seven-mile trek Julia attempts to scale the 1,500ft granite outcrop of Haytor, just as a little warm-up.
Later, there’s more lovely scenery for us to savour, this time in Morecambe, as we start series two of THE BAY (ITV, 9pm), albeit with that enjoyment somewhat marred by the sickening murder.
Normally we’d assume Morven Christie’s character, DS Lisa Armstrong, would be straight on the case. But having somewhat blotted her copybook in series one, she’s no longer a DS but a DC.
Might she get a chance to mend her reputation, however, thanks to this harrowing, cold-blooded slaying? That would be rather lovely, wouldn’t it?