WHAT’S HOT TO WATCH TODAY

WEIRDEST new drama of the week, and I mean that in a good way, is PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, a new Australian-based six-parter kicking off tonight on BBC2

(9.05pm).

Based on a novel from the

60s which went on to become a critically acclaimed film, it stars Natalie Dormer as mysterious widow Hester Appleyard, the scary headmistress of a school for young ladies – and a woman who clearly has some sort of dark past she’s running away from.

This educational establishment she’s established, Appleyard College, is way out in the bush, and that provides a suitably eerie setting for the alarming events that are about to unfold.

It’s Valentine’s Day 1900 when a bunch of her pupils head off on an outing with their governess to a local landmark. It’s also when the weirdness really kicks in.

Up until then, this is a period drama that just seems mildly bonkers and off-kilter. But once the girls reach their picnic spot, things turns truly surreal.

Has somebody spiked their scotch eggs, do we reckon? No, it’s way, way worse. A few of the party defy Hester’s instructions, wandering off on their own – and then disappear without trace. BOB helps Paul look years younger in this week’s episode of MORTIMER & WHITEHOUSE: GONE FISHING (BBC2, 10pm). Well, all right, maybe a few weeks younger.

It’s a hair-thickening spray, designed to disguise his bald spot. “Are you actually a licensed practitioner?” Paul asks, nervously. “I’m slightly concerned that I’m leaving my coiffure to a half-wit with a spray can.”