TV review Long and the short of it as history is brought to life

ACTORS are a selfish lot. In

Rise of the Clans (BBC4, Tuesday, 9pm), the historian Neil Oliver, long of hair, thin of scarf, was cheek by jowl with a coachload of thesps playing hairy-bottomed medieval Scots. Though armed with swords, not one of Equity’s finest thought to do the nation a favour and perform a Samson and Delilah on the Oliver barnet. What an opportunity lost. Now we will need to spend the next two weeks staring at those lank locks.

“Centuries ago,” Oliver informed us, “much of Scotland was a law unto itself.” Plus ca change. In this particular period the clan chiefs were like “Mafia godfathers” warring for territory. He’s affy fond of making history pure dead approachable, is oor Neil. At one point, after John Comyn had insulted Robert the Bruce’s father, Oliver said: “Not cool to diss big Bobby’s dad like that.” Since Oliver was clearly not going to do so, I blushed on his behalf. Ditto when, desperate to get a Game of Thrones vibe going, he told us that “winter is coming”.

Respect due, though. In his trademark, creepy time-traveller style of observing dramatic reconstructions from a short distance away, Oliver brought the period alive and the story rattled along. If you were looking for further erudition there was a coachload of historians to provide it; so many, indeed, that I half fancied they had to fight like clan chiefs to get the gig.

A Hotel for the Super Rich and Famous (BBC2, Thursday, 8pm) covered exactly what it said on the caviar tin. The Corinthia, near Trafalgar Square, is a relatively new kid on the five-star luxury hotel block, but with manager Thomas Kochs having learned his trade at Claridge’s, it is in very safe hands. It was while making her documentary about

Dynasties (BBC1, 8pm)

The last episode of this stunning series could also be the most dramatic and, like the previous edition, which focused on painted wolves, there’s a mother-daughter rivalry at the heart of it. The star of the show is tigress Raj Bhera, who lives in Bandhavgarh National Park Tiger Reserve in India. Her territory has dense jungles, spring-fed ponds and rich grasslands teeming with prey, which should make the job of raising her four new-born cubs a little easier. However, rival tigers, including Raj Bhera’s adult daughter Solo, are challenging her for control of these hunting grounds, forcing the mother to make a decision that could end bring her dynasty to a dramatic end. Sir David Attenborough narrates this story of life and death.

Daredevils and Divas: A Night at the Circus (BBC4, 9pm)

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the first British