Dear John, Friday, 21.15, Forces TV

As we say, it is a bit of a shame this channel is on its way out as it has brought us some genuinely fascinating and rarely-seen series, these last two being perfect examples. When you’ve written Only Fools and Horses, pretty much every other show is going to be overshadowed, even big hits like Just Good Friends and Citizen Smith, but John Sullivan’s divorce-com is still fondly remembered we think, thanks to a great central performance from Ralph Bates, and it was certainly very lucrative to Sullivan as it was sold, very successfully, to American TV. Then later on at midnight it’s another less familiar show from two very successful writers indeed, Hot Metal, Andrew Marshall and David Renwick’s suitably outrageous satire of the excesses of eighties tabloids which was a hugely welcome addition to ITV’s Sunday night spot for alternative comedy, which we’re thrilled to see again. Presumably we’re just getting the first series here, alas, as this time next week it’ll be all over.