UPSTART CROW: LOCKDOWN CHRISTMAS 1603

9PM, BBC2 ★★★★

A pandemic has hit London and, as Christmas approaches, the country is plunged into lockdown. But hold on, this isn’t 2020, but 1603, and it’s not Covid-19 keeping people indoors, but the Great Plague. Writer Ben Elton gets plenty of laughs from this festive edition of his Elizabethan comedy, and the parallels with the modern day are milked to perfection as bard William Shakespeare (David Mitchell, right) and his London landlady, Kate (Gemma Whelan), fill endless time with baking, hoarding, clapping and DIY haircuts.