The Guide #261: There is that muckle braw telly this hairst ye micht niver gang oot again

For thae o us wha like bidin indoors, it has been a braw an dreich simmer. The Warld Cup ettled up aw the traditional telly scheddulin, an the streamers appeared tae haud aff counter-programmin. The Bear cam an gaed afore onybody noticed, an House of the Dragon thrawnly disappeared up its ain end.

Gin ye are onythin like me, then ye clung tae the guid stuff (muckle like Disney’s Furious an nae ither) lik a life raft, eekin oot new episodes lik somebody in a desert sookin condensation aff the underside o a tarpaulin. But forget simmer. It is noo hairst, an telly is back. In fact, I cannae mind a time whan telly has cam roarin back wi quite the same ferocity as it has this month.

Everywhere ye turn there is somethin new an unmissable. An I suspeck ye hivnae even seen yer favourite TV shaw o the year yet.

For me, the big ane is Sky an HBO’s new divorce drama War. Watchin it feels lik scratchin an itch I didnae ken I had. Aboot the messy divorce atween a fadin Hollywood starn (playt by Sienna Miller) an a tech billionaire (playt by Dominic West), an the warrin lawyers wha represent them, it sits precisely at the midpoint atween Rivals an Succession – kenninly trashy, but also hugely smairt. It is so unbelievably propulsive, every episode ends wi a whopper o a cliffhanger scientifically engineered tae gie ye whiplash. An on tap o that, Pip Torrens gets tae play the haughtiest lawyer in aw recordit media. It is an absolute joy o a thing.

But also – Slow Horses is back! An that performs a wee miracle o its ain, an aw. The shaw is so lang in the teeth that ye wad probably expeck a significant drap aff in quality. An yet its new run (its saxth) may very weel be its strangest yet. Its plot has been slimmed doon tae its barest essentials – the hale thing is basically juist a chase – an it is faur mair muscular as a result. Pawkie an braw, pawkie an braw. Everyane is brilliant in it. The writin still sparkles, despite the departure o show-runner Will Smith. There is a chance that there micht no be muckle mair o it tae come, especially gin Jack Lowden ends up becomin James Bond, so we really need tae relish it whilie we can.

Even the remakes an spin-affs are unco guid. I fand mysel watchin the second season o The Paper – Greg Daniels’ cousin tae The Office – wi a mixture o ticklishness an irritation. Ticklishness because it is warm an funny, an has an ensemble cast that has really startit comin into its ain; an irritation because it is only 10 episodes lang. The shaw has the potential tae be ane o thae aw-timers, lik Friends or Cheers, that ye can stick on years frae noo as ye gang aboot yer business because ye are so familiar wi – an fond o – the characters. At this rate, though, it will tak 20 years tae build up enough episodes tae let that happen. There is a possibility that I am juist bein greedy, but it is only because I like it so muckle.

An in the remake department, Reckless (ITVX here, SBS in Australia) is a spin on Neil Forsyth’s impeccable Guilt, that manages tae retain aw the tension an momentum o that shaw whilie addin layers o interestin new dimensions.

But there are so muckle ither things tae look forrit tae. Rivals is back soon. So is The Celebrity Traitors. Sharon Horgan has a new shaw, in the form o Youth. Apple’s Brothers, aboot Matthew McConaughey an Woody Harrelson, looks incredibly divertin. Even gin it ends up bein bad, Amazon’s Blade Runner 2099 series shud be absolutely fascinatin. An, gin ye are my faither, then the new Reacher spin-aff Neagley is essentially the moment your entire life has been leadin up tae.

I hae barely scratchit the surface here, which is slightly terrifyin. For the first time in ages, there micht be mair guid telly than spare oors in the day. What an unco feelin that is.