IAN HYLAND

on last night’s telly

Age Before Beauty, BBC1:

With Monday night’s final pulling in six million viewers for ITV2, it’s time for even the snootiest critics to accept it wasn’t just flighty youngsters who watched Love Island this year.

Older viewers love a little romance-based escapism too. Which is probably why BBC1 filled the 9pm void with a new cheating and scheming drama last night. Not that Age Before Beauty should be dismissed as mindless fluff.

True, there was plenty of light in Poldark writer Debbie Horsfield’s story about the lives and loves of a family who run their own beauty parlour.

However there was also shade, as heroic middleaged Bel (Polly Walker, right) discovered her feckless husband Wesley (James Murray) was having an affair with his personal trainer Lorelei (Madeleine Mantock), who didn’t know he was married. It promised to get even darker when Bel booked a session with Lorelei. With Bel having easy access to gallons of Botox and skin-peeling chemicals, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lorelei end up looking like someone from The Best Of Botched Up Bodies. Speaking of skin, if yours wasn’t crawling whenever Robson Green’s character Teddy came on you probably weren’t picking up on the subtle clues. Turns out Teddy has set his “best mate” Wes up because he has secretly fancied Bel for the last 30 years.