TV review Keep it all, I want nada but the house and the handbags

MY television reviewer senses were tingling as The Split (BBC1, Monday) returned. The everyday tale of divorce lawyer folk ended its second series with the seemingly rock-solid marriage of Hannah and Nathan (Nicola Walker and Stephen Mangan) on the rocks.

But what was this? The pair were meeting for a drink. There was laughter in the air, lingering looks at each other. Wine. Might a reconciliation be on the cards?

Alas, before you could say “conscious uncoupling”, everything had gone pear-shaped again. Turned out Nathan rather liked the idea of a new life. With a new girlfriend. Who was a child psychologist, a writer, and had lovely long hair like a horse. Soon, everyone was unhappy again, and that’s how we like it.

It might be thought women watch The Split to pick up divorce tips.

Not true. We watch for the fabulous homes and the handbags, and if there’s some unhappiness along the way, so be it.

There was, mind you, a genuinely shocking end to the first instalment. Perhaps it was a sign from the writer, Abi Morgan, that we will all have to do some growing up in this third series and try to take things more seriously. Sure, but in the meantime, bring on the summer season totes and those Millport-sized kitchen islands.

Imagine how history might have been different if Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan had met each other earlier in their lives and married. [Pause for theatrical shudder.]

According to the two-part documentary, Thatcher and Reagan: A Very Special Relationship (BBC2, Sunday) the pair were as close as two friends in politics could be. There was no suggestion the relationship was closer than that, despite the tease of a title.

Charles Moore, Mrs Thatcher’s authorised biographer, was the man in charge. He opened the film surrounded by some of Mrs T’s handbags, reminding viewers what it meant for a Cabinet Minister to be “handbagged” by her. Ronald Reagan did not have quite that fate,

though she was not afraid to let him know when she was disappointed, as she was with America’s declared neutrality in the run-up to the Falklands conflict.

Moore worked his contacts from his books and landed a few big fish as talking heads, some of them better known at the time than now, but offering valuable insights all the same. There was the personal touch, too, as he reminisced with Cynthia Crawford, “Crawfie”, Mrs Thatcher’s indispensable PA.

Cruise missiles, Greenham Common, the Cold War, how long ago it all seemed, particularly with the news as it is now. The film suffered as a result, but there were a few nuggets worth sharing, and the insights into Reagan, (strong mother, alcoholic father) made a lot of sense.

A busy time on the domestic front with a couple of shows returning and a newbie on the block. Anyone would think it was spring cleaning season.

All things were bright and beautiful in Scotland’s Home of the Year (BBC1, Monday, reviewed in The Herald on Tuesday). The image this show projects of Scotland as a wealthy, content nation where the only divide is between decorating maximalists and minimalists, is worth its weight in gold baths, one of which featured in a Highland home.

While SHOTY is quintessentially Scottish, Get Organised with the Home Edit (Netflix) could scarcely be more American. The show in which people with too much stuff hire others to put the stuff in special containers, thus adding to the pile of stuff in the world, has acquired a cult following.

The idea is seductive – an organised life is the key to a happier, less stressful existence – if not exactly deep. I can’t see home organising becoming one of the great religions of the world, but it is a harmless enough pastime. Do pop some ear plugs in before viewing: contains lots of girly screaming, especially from the blokes, when they see the wonders home editors Clea and Joanna make happen.

By my reckoning, The Great

Home Transformation (Channel 4, Wednesday) is the 351st show of its kind, or at least it feels that way. Presented by Nick Grimshaw and Emma Willis, its USP was its ordinariness.

Tech was used to show the rooms most used by a family, and the house rearranged and decluttered accordingly.

No walls were knocked through or otherwise harmed in the making of this programme. Are you taking note, Kirstie?

There was so much product from a certain

Swedish superstore it came as no surprise to find they were the show’s sponsors.

At the end of the hour, asked what the tidy up would do for the family, mum said: “I can just imagine people smiling more.” I’ll take that.

Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were birds of a similar political feather; Nicola Walker, and nice bag, in The Split