Our Dementia Choir With Vicky McClure, BBC1: ★★★★★

If Simon Cowell was watching BBC1 last night, he might have been grinding those famous teeth. While Britain’s Got Talent has struggled to unearth many gems so far this year, Line Of Duty actress Vicky McClure and choirmaster Mark De-Lisser put together the choir of his dreams.

A group of dementia sufferers

with an age range of 31-82, belting out Stand By Me with the all the gusto of a Welsh rugby choir celebrating a Grand Slam title win. They even came with the additional benefit of being British, which would have saved Cowell’s researchers a worldwide call-out for professional circus and magic acts to pop to the UK and audition.

Cowell might have struggled to persuade Vicky’s choir to milk the

sob story angle though. The one thing you could not accuse any of these inspirational people of was feeling sorry for themselves.

If the way they approached their condition with stoicism and humour (“Don’t you remember?”, “No – I’ve got dementia.”) didn’t have you bawling, the sight of Vicky their eyes lighting sings with dementia choir up whenever the music started surely would have done. No one was claiming a good sing-song

could alone cure dementia, obviously. But there was no denying it helped to ease the bewilderment and despair.

I’ll certainly be tuning in next Thursday to see how the choir gets on as it gives its first public performance at a 2,000-seater theatre in Nottingham.

If it’s as emotional as last night’s episode, Vicky will need to nick a bigger “bog roll” from the ladies.