TV review It is nice to be nice, but I am afraid there are limits

ALISON ROWAT

DEAR Dawn, you come across as a good wee spud, as does the righton reverend character you played in

Beloved by millions, the show has been brought back for Christmas to bring cheer where there is little. A televisual shot-in-the-arm while we wait for the real one. A tonic for the troops.

Yet I cannot stand it. Its tweeness makes me want to claw my skin off. Smug, calculated, painful in even the tiniest of doses, it’s the comedy equivalent of a skelf in the thumb.

Admittedly, I did watch only the first of three short films in which your Reverend Geraldine give a sermon by Zoom, and I hear the second is a sight to see.

But, even at 10 minutes, this first instalment was like 100 lashes with a wet Cath Kidston tea towel. That bit at the start when you prodded the computer and asked: “Is it working?” As hilarious as it was original.

Like I say, it’s not me, it’s you. Or something like that.

Love, Alison

It is impossible not to like the woman at the centre of

What a long way she has come from winning Bake Off. Can it only be five years ago? Then again, Hussain is so successful because she has not changed her personality or style to suit telly. The medium adores naturals and she is the real deal, able to put people at their ease whatever their age or background.

She needed that skill-set here in what was an odd, hour-long blend of cooking show, documentary, travelogue and bird-spotting.

First stop was Louisiana and New Orleans. After enjoying herself at Mardi Gras she took a 10-minute trip out to an area that was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina 15 years ago, and largely remained so today. But she found a local man who had opened up a shop to sell almost anything, including hope.

Everywhere she went, she cooked,

What’s the story?

Elaine C Smith, Richard Wilson and Jack Docherty.

Walk into a bar?

Chance would be a fine thing these days. It’s a new three-part BBC Scotland series, The Moments That Made, profiling the careers of some of Scotland’s favourite comedy performers.

Tell me more…

The opening episode focuses on Elaine C Smith, best known as Mary Doll in Rab C Nesbitt and for starring as Christine in Two Doors Down.

It charts her path to stardom as Smith sought to make it in a traditionally male-dominated industry.

Two further instalments, due to air later this month, will shine a spotlight on the careers of Richard Wilson and Jack Docherty.

Wilson’s gems include Crown Court, Tutti Frutti and Hot Metal, not to forget his famous role as grumpy Victor Meldrew in One Foot in the Grave.

Docherty’s CV spans everything from cult classic, Absolutely, to playing Chief Miekelson in mockumentary series Scot Squad.

What can we expect?

A feast of nostalgia-inducing clips and a plethora of talking heads paying tribute, including Alex Norton, David Tennant and Arabella Weir, as well as Moray Hunter, Gordon Kennedy and Pete Baikie.

When can I watch?

The Moments That Made… Elaine C Smith airs on BBC Scotland, Wednesday, 10pm, with further episodes on December 23 and 30.

SUSAN SWARBRICK

ALISON ROWAT

CHANNEL 5 continues to come up with some seriously impressive documentaries to rival anything the slicker streaming services have to offer. While there is still a fair bit of fluff to be had on 5, the more considered films are well worth your time, even if their titles are a work in progress right up until the moment of transmission.

Last week the highlight was The World’s Biggest Murder Trial: Nuremberg. Next week’s is The Vanishing of Suzy Lamplugh (Wednesday, Channel 5, 9pm).

As is pointed out in this excellent 90-minute film, the name Suzy Lamplugh, and the image of her face, will forever be imprinted on women of a certain age, dating us as surely as rings in a tree trunk.

Suzy was an estate agent in trendy Fulham, London. As her flatmate says, she was very much a woman of her time, the 1980s. She adored her job, had a busy social life, good friends and a loving family.

This was the era of sizeable shoulder pads, big hair and even bigger ambition, when single women looked out at the career and property markets and thought, “I’m going to have some of that, too. What’s to stop me?”

But then Suzy went out to show a house to a man listed in her diary as “Mr Kipper”. She did not return. It was July 28, 1986, and she was 25 years old. Her body has never been found.

The story was everywhere, like some ghastly cautionary tale. Don’t think you can be the equal of men, went the sub-text of the blanket press coverage, because it’s a dangerous world out there and you, being a woman, are vulnerable. If you listened carefully you could hear many a door slamming as frightened women retreated indoors again.

Directed by Marc Sigsworth, The Vanishing of Suzy Lamplugh is much more than a routine crime documentary. Certainly, there are retired police officers and reporters, all the usual