Life After Life

BBC2, 9pm

‘They’re the two best words in the English language if you put them together, aren’t they? “What if?”’ This from Kate Atkinson’s best-selling novel, which gets a four-part adaptation in an entertaining but unusually philosophical costume drama that addresses the many chance life-ordeath moments that define our existence.

The plot centres on Ursula (Thomasin McKenzie), born into a well-heeled English family in 1910. Almost instantly she dies during birth – but in the next scene, in an alternate existence, she survives.

That’s the first of several ‘sliding doors’ moments, as the complex story takes us through two world wars. Also starring

Sian Clifford (right) as Ursula’s mother, as well as Jessica Hynes and Jessica Brown Findlay, Life After Life may occasionally leave you scratching your head but it is thought-provoking viewing. ★★★★