SCOTLAND’S CURSE

TOP Darren McGarvey’s PICK Addictions – Tuesday, BBC Scotland, 10pm

Scotland has the highest drug fatality rate in Europe and the highest alcoholrelated death rate in the UK. We’re Britain’s gambling capital and we have a serious obesity problem. Why are so many Scottish people struggling with addiction? In this sensitive new series, author, journalist and musician Darren McGarvey examines the issue while investigating measures that

could and should be in place to help addicts. McGarvey is a recovering alcoholic. Like all good, empathetic people, he recognises that

alcoholism is a complicated illness. In episode one he meets medical experts and other recovering addicts. There are, of course, no straightforward answers, but this is a valuable report.

Britain’s Top Takeaways – Monday to Thursday, BBC Two, 8pm

Warning: don’t watch this

series while feeling peckish, as you may end up blowing a fortune on takeaways. It’s a harmlessly formulaic competition in which top takeaways from around the country go head to head in a pop-up HQ. The judges aren’t celebs for once. They’re ordinary British couples and families tasked with sampling the wares of our contestants. It’s MasterChef meets Gogglebox, basically. An inevitable union we’ve been waiting for. It begins with a battle betwixt five chippies, one of which is based in Coatbridge. They each add their own magic ingredients to the classic fish

supper, a cornerstone of the national diet. Your affable hosts are Sara Cox and comedian Darren Harriott.

Fergal Keane: Living with PTSD – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

Esteemed BBC News foreign correspondent Fergal Keane has reported on brutal

conflicts for more than 30 years. He’s witnessed so many harrowing atrocities, the worst of humanity. Fourteen years ago he was diagnosed with PTSD. Recently, while filming in Kyiv on the eve of the Ukraine War, he made a decision: it’s time to go home

and put war reports behind him. In this ruminative essay, Keane digs deep into his psyche while examining the effects of this debilitating condition. He’s very honest and self-aware. He states that his career was largely driven by idealism, but also by an addiction to the

adrenaline of war reportage. It made him feel worthwhile. It also consumed him with

survivor’s guilt.

Between the Covers – Wednesday, BBC Two, 7.30pm

A busy week for Sara Cox continues with the return of her engaging book club. It’s impossible to dislike Cox, so this brief burst of ubiquity

is entirely acceptable. Her guests this week are radio presenter Vick Hope, actor David Morrissey, television man Richard Osman and comedian/podcaster Deborah Frances White.

This latest series is brought to you in conjunction with the BBC’s Big Jubilee Read, which celebrates the work of writers from across the Commonwealth. One of the novels under review in episode one is the Booker Prize-winning The English Patient by Sri Lankan author Michael Ondaatje. As always, the panel also wax lyrical about some of their favourite

tomes.

DNA Family Secrets – Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm

Stacey Dooley returns for another series of carefully handled and potentially life-changing DNA investigations. Three people take a test this week. Richard has always wanted to know the identity of his father; he never received a satisfactory answer from his mother, who passed away quite recently. Glen, who is mixed race, also doesn’t know who his father was. He’s always wondered about his ethnic heritage. Finding out will hopefully complete his sense of self. Meanwhile, Janet has reason to believe that she has a secret half-sister in Austria. Dooley’s expert team of geneticists, genealogists and doctors have to start from scratch in all three cases, but they get results. Uplifting revelations ensue.

Inside No. 9 –

Wednesday, BBC Two, 10pm

It recently occurred to me that Inside No. 9 is a modern classic. Steve Pemberton

and Reece Shearsmith have, across seven series and 30

episodes, maintained a high quality threshold. This is an ingenious endeavour made with evident love and care, it rewards the

viewer on an almost entirely consistent basis. Exemplary television. The latest episode is a meta-textual critique of generic crime fiction tropes. Sophie Okonedo, brilliant as always, stars as a dysfunctional cop who’s been suspended from duty. But she’s still obsessed with solving the case of a missing child. The story unfolds in a discombobulating yet ultimately satisfying manner. Obviously I can’t say any

more, but it’s a good ‘un.

Growing Up Scottish – Thursday, BBC Scotland, 10pm

This bittersweet nostalgiafest about coming of age in Scotland during the last three decades of the 20th Century also doubles up as a talking head showcase for emerging comedians such as Rachel Jackson, Christopher MacarthurBoyd and TJ Singh. Series two commences with an episode based around the themes of friendship and

home. The comics ruminate on pastimes we’d invent to

amuse ourselves in those pre-internet days. Anything would do as long as it

staved off boredom. They also discuss the rules of sleepovers, while reflecting on life in tenements, semidetached houses, rented accommodation and even but ‘n’ bens. An amusing

diversion.

EATING IN: Sara Cox and Darren Harriott host Britain’s Top Takeaways.

Clockwise from top: The cast of Inside No. 9; Darren McGarvey’s Addictions; and Stacey Dooley in DNA Family Secrets.