Those silly Mitford sisters? It's hours of mindless fun to binge-watch

Times

22-06-2025

A contestant on the teatime quiz show Tipping Point (ITV, Mon-Fri) was asked which British prime minister had a controversial portrait painted in 1953 by Graham Sutherland. She looked askance for a moment and replied: 'I'm not entirely sure, but for some reason the name Ronald is coming to me. Ronald … Ron … Reagan?' Another question on the same show was: 'The Jacobite rising in Britain in 1745 took place in which century?'
All of human life is on television, somewhere, including that tranche of life that needs instructions on how to breathe. Indeed, Tipping Point is a repository for people so dim that you marvel where ITV finds them. Is there really, beneath the surface of our country, a depthless lagoon of pig-ignorance? Are the people who think Ronnie Reagan was our prime minister in 1953 in the majority? The people for whom history is a blank canvas except maybe for Henry VIII — he had some wives, he lived a long time ago, possibly the 1920s? How do they make sense of the world?
It was in the 1920s (possibly as Henry VIII was embarking on his fourth marriage) that the six Mitford sisters came along and their various cheeky little escapades (marrying Oswald Mosley, hobnobbing with Hitler and Goebbels, joining the Communist Party) were a useful reminder that the aforementioned lagoon of pig-ignorance is also full of yer toffs as well as the kinds of non-U people who make it on to Tipping Point.
Outrageous (U&Drama, Thu) was a delightful scamper through the lives of these gilded, thick-as-mince slappers, or 'bright young things' as they were known at the time. They were, of course, ludicrous human beings bred from a ludicrous family — you know you're in for a good time when Oswald Mosley is the most likeable person in a drama. We had the glacial, beautiful Diana (fascist, bit of a goer) and the debutante Unity (fascist, lumpen and awkward), plus Debo (SDP!), Jessica (quite fetching, commie) and the comparatively sane Nancy, who sadly missed out on the looks and was still a virgin at 28.
They were swooned upon by various indistinguishable chinless scions, all of whom were encouraged by the senior Mitfords so that their brood might be financially provided for. There was an excellent performance from Joanna Vanderham as Diana, simpering after Mosley (Joshua Sasse) like an alley cat on heat ('Is that the fifth column or are you just pleased to see me?'), and indeed by Shannon Watson as Unity — soon to eclipse Diana as the most hated woman in the country — who took her pet rat in a handbag to her coming-out party.
I shall binge-watch this one because, even though this country might be a marginally better place if old Pa Mitford had kept it zipped up, it's hours of mindless fun and we could all do with that, no? Also, it bestowed on us a neat euphemism for homosexuality. 'Is he, you know, a fan of Oscar Wilde?'
• Read more from Rod Liddle in the Sunday Times
I like to think I would not have binge-watched the Japanese show Susunu! Denpa Shonen if it had made it over here. This exercise in calculated cruelty was a reality show — possibly the first — at the end of the 1990s. For one challenge a contestant, chosen by lottery, was stripped naked and left alone in a tiny apartment. To procure food (and clothing) he had to enter magazine competitions each day and hope that one might offer the prize of a pack of rice or some crisps. And he was kept like that for how long? One year and three months.
This grotesque abuse of television was the subject of Storyville — The Contestant (BBC4, Tue). I vaguely remember covering the show when it was broadcast and was pulling in 30 million viewers every week. The poor dupe chosen for this exercise was the comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi because his long face was supposedly like an aubergine. And to cover his nakedness on screen they used an aubergine emoji, which is how it has come to represent a penis on texts today.
Nasubi almost died from malnutrition and began displaying Stockholm syndrome. When he was finally released in front of a huge live audience he had already stripped off his clothes once again. The documentary would have been improved if it had shown the odious, smug producer (not unlike Ed Harris's character in The Truman Show) being pelted with excrement in the stocks at the end until the stupid smile was wiped from his face. This was dehumanising and vile television, dreamt up by a megalomaniac and sadist and watched, shamefully, by so many millions.
• Read more TV reviews, guides about what to watch and interviews
The true crime series Murder 24/7 (BBC iPlayer) kicked off with the investigation of the killing of a delivery driver in Shrewsbury and we learnt quickly that robbery had not been the aim of the exercise. Aurman Singh got a golf club wrapped around his head as well as a huge axe wound to his skull. He died in the arms of the police officer who was first to attend.
Another intrepid copper soon tracked down one of the two suspect cars and tailed it through half of Shropshire. It turned out the perps were all called Singh and there had been some barney at a sporting event. It was a revenge killing. This was a neatly edited and produced chunk of television and slightly renewed my faith in the police, who handled the case with speed and assiduity. They do very well on the quiz show The Chase, coppers and ex-coppers. Much better than teachers or doctors.
What have you been enjoying on television recently? Let us know in the comments below
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