A cost of living crisis, strikes, arguing over Europe - save for the different hairdos and fashions, the opening scenes of 1970s-set drama The Long Shadow (STV, Monday) could have been shot any time this year.

Then again, there was something uniquely grim about Britain in the 1970s. The decade that was home to a record heatwave will forever be associated in many minds with the cold and dark of power cuts and scandals brewing behind closed doors.

With that in mind, the opening scenes in George Kay’s drama about the hunt for serial murderer Peter Sutcliffe were pitch-perfect. A young mum, Wilma McCann, kissed goodnight to her children before going out on the streets to earn a crust. Her last act of love: laying her coat on top of the thin pile of bedclothes.

The attention to detail was superb, as was a cast that included Katherine Kelly (Coronation Street), Toby Jones, Daniel Mays, and David Morrissey. Some Yorkshire accents were more convincing than others, but this took nothing away from the overall authenticity.

Much has been made of The Long Shadow’s focus on the women and their families, and how misogyny in the police and society allowed Sutcliffe to continue killing for so long. Police incompetence played its part, too.

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Other works have taken the same approach though, among them Liza William’s documentary The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story, and Audrey Gillan’s podcast, Bible John: Creation of a Serial Killer - both outstanding. There is no excuse for treating victims as little more than bodies at crime scenes.

Who Killed Jill Dando? (Netflix) took the documentary approach to another horrific murder, this one taking place in 1999. Even after all these years the details still amaze. A BBC presenter, second only in popularity to Diana we were told, shot on her doorstep in the middle of the day. Was it a stalker, revenge for the Nato bombing of Belgrade, payback from the criminal underworld for Crimewatch?

Over three episodes the theories were picked apart and some of those closest to the case had their say. There was little new or startling, with the exception of an interview with Barry George, who was convicted and then cleared of the killing. Otherwise, the three hours only succeeded in adding more bafflement to the pile.

The Great British Bake Off (Channel 4, Tuesday) returned with Alison Hammond replacing Wotsisface as co-host with Noel Fielding. Like Dermot O’Leary, Hammond’s oppo on This Morning, Fielding took the line of least resistance and just let her get on with it. Bake Off only has room for one power couple and that’s Prue and Paul, the latter more flirty than ever. If he was chocolate, etc.

Hard to pick favourites at this early stage but a few stood out. Lovely smiley Dan is a gifted baker and his dog went to that great pie shop in the sky recently, so he’s obviously a contender. Keith thinks the way to a woman of a certain age’s heart is via the drinks trolley (correct). Then there is Nikky from Dundee, a former air steward turned devoted gran living in the West Midlands. Nikky looks like she has some good stories to tell. Just don’t ask her to make a cake in the shape of an animal.

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Tips of the hat to all concerned with The Woman in the Wall (BBC1, Sunday), which reached a close this week. Writer Joe Murtagh’s voyage into the dark heart of the Magdalene laundries made you want to cry, laugh, cheer and punch someone’s lights out, all at the same time. A thump was duly delivered, but those closing scenes between Lorna and Colman (Ruth Wilson, Daryl McCormack) were the real knockouts in a series packed with memorable moments.

Now, you know us, we’re peaceful, gentle sorts who would never wish anyone ill. Then along came Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins (Channel 4 Tuesday) with Matt Hancock as a contestant.

Apart from money and vanity, what on earth possessed the former Health Secretary to put himself through this and I’m a Celebrity? It is not to show contrition because he doesn’t. He leaves these experiences as much a twerp as when he goes in.

The team of trainers had his number from the off, calling the “complete and utter buffoon” to the interrogation room where they did a better job of quizzing him on Covid than some journalists I could mention. Elsewhere in the episode the contestants had to knock lumps out of each other in one-to-one scraps. Hancock was in the first pair to square up, in his case with a former footballer who knew how to throw a punch.

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Perhaps some would like to see the whole series given over to putting Hancock through the wringer, but as I’m a Celebrity showed, that’s a game of diminishing returns. Like the old joke says, never wrestle with a pig - you both get dirty and the pig likes it.