DYNASTIES (BBC1)

▼ SCOTLAND V ISRAEL (SKY SPORTS)

The BBC and ITV can spend millions on producing glossy thrillers but if it’s nail-biting drama they’re after, all they have to do is cover a live Scotland game. The likes of Bodyguard has nothing on watching the national team over 90 nerve-shredding minutes.

Viewers to Sky Sports’ coverage might not have felt good vibes when they saw pundit Gordon Strachan’s face as the coverage began. It looked like the ex-boss was sucking on a wasp. But then wee Gordon often looks like he’s stumbled open-mouthed into a wasps’ nest.

Presenter Hayley McQueen was her usual upbeat self, but it didn’t take long for Scotland to fall a goal behind.

By the 15-minute mark, the cameras cut to a supporter sitting in the stand who looked like Old Father Time, engrossed in a seriously thick book rather than the action on the pitch. The weighty tome might have been called The Big Book Of Scottish Football Failures, but a new chapter wasn’t to be written on this night.

Hat-trick hero James Forrest was the leading man and it all seemed to be heading to a straightforward happy ending. But there was a late twist when Israel scored and the final 15 minutes were as nerve-wracking as any big budget drama’s conclusion.

With just two minutes left, a final act hero emerged in goalkeeper Allan McGregor when Israel looked certainties to score and the team held on.

Back in the studio, even Gordon Strachan seemed mildly enthused by it all.

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Watching the plight of the Emperor penguins and their chicks as they struggled to survive in Antarctica was heart-rending. Quite rightly, the camera crew has been spared any criticism for breaking with conventions to step in and help.