Fair play to those court in the middle

MR V MRS: CALL THE MEDIATOR (BBC2)

IN the week Britain was deciding whether to continue working on a fairly loveless marriage or not, this new series showed us how messy divorces can be.

It followed the work of the National Family Mediation council, a publicly-funded body set up to try to save couples intent on splitting up from a costly battle in the divorce courts.

They aren’t a reconciliation service, which was fortunate for mediator Judith who had been handed the case of Nichola and Martin.

They’d been together for 17 years until Nichola found out that Martin had been seeing someone only referred to as “that woman” for 12 of those.

Now Nichola didn’t want Martin “invading my personal space” which made it difficult for to see their two young children.

At least they could be in the same room to conduct the mediation, even if Nichola moved her chair a little further away from Martin when he sat down.

That was a feat beyond another couple, Vicky and Jason, which meant their mediator Irene had to shuttle between two rooms to try to work out a solution for the sake of their six-year-old daughter.

Having been married for only 14 months and with a newborn, it sent a shiver down my spine to see how the throwing of confetti in smiling photographs can turn to the hurling of sour brickbats.

But it was a fascinating insight into a process we all hope we’ll never have to go through.

Like watching Jeremy Kyle without the shouting.

• I’m a fan of public transport and use it a lot but I wasn’t expecting to get emotional at a programme entitled The Secret Life Of A Bus Garage (ITV).

But the story of 73-year-old former Hungarian refugee Nina, who died during filming, was truly touching.