Mrs America

BBC2, 9pm & 9.45pm

By rights we should be appalled by Phyllis Schlafly (Cate Blanchett, right): she’s the real-life figure who in the U.S. in the 1970s fought a determined campaign to stop the passing into law of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which would have prohibited sex discrimination.

What makes the opening episode of this nine-part drama such scintillating viewing is that we are invited to understand Schlafly and to empathise – but not agree – with her. That’s thanks to a smart script by Dahvi Waller (Mad Men), but then there’s the powerhouse performance from Blanchett, who shimmers with poise and intelligence in the male world of conservative politics.

Look out for Tracey Ullman as feminist activist Betty Friedan, while Rose Byrne as fellow campaigner Gloria Steinem looms large in the second part of this week’s opening double bill.