I’ll watch anything written by former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies, and my interest in post-war history made BBC One’s A Very English Scandal especially intriguing. Over breakfast one morning I flicked through our TV guide and drew a circle around the listing for the first episode. Later that day I pressed the ‘series link’ button on our TiVo, content that I’d done everything possible to ensure I wouldn’t miss a thing.
I fully intended to watch the first episode as it went out, but deadlines are deadlines and I had to work. “Never mind”, I thought, “it’s being recorded.” Over the next seven days I received a number of phone calls and emails from friends, asking what I thought of episode one. Wasn’t Hugh Grant’s performance amazing? Grant and Ben Whishaw weren’t anything like this in Paddington 2, etc. These were conversations I really wanted to have, but the trouble was I still hadn’t got round to watching the episode. I had to very politely ask everyone if they’d mind coming back to me in a couple of days.