AT the start of Unforgotten (STV, Monday) I realised I had clean forgotten how the last series ended. Well, it was three years ago. I’ve had a lot on, what with Brexit and the pandemic (have you noticed how Covid has replaced Brexit as the go-to excuse for any failing?).

Then I remembered. DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker, we like her) left a crucial file behind in a cafe. She forgot it. Like I’d forgotten her forgetting it. In her case the consequences were extremely serious. I only suffered the mildest inconvenience of having to Google the end of the last series. A quick recap would not have gone amiss.

That was the only quibble with a typically excellent opening episode. The familiar formula worked as well as ever. Body found, yes. Headless and handless to hinder identification, got it. Usual ping-ponging around the country to assemble the cast of suspects and clock this year’s big acting cheese (last time it was Neil Morrissey, now it’s Sheila Hancock as a miserable old bird who cannot wait to die). All present and correct.

As for Cassie, she wanted to retire but the bean counters said no. Bad for her, good for her oppo DI Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar), and great for us. Chris Lang has created a winning duo in Cassie and Sunny, the latter taking after his name while Cassie has a rain cloud following her everywhere. “I’m just going to keep my head down, Sunny. Do the job. Not get too involved. It’ll be fine.” Aye, right.

As with last week’s Wartime Britain documentaries, Blitz Spirit with Lucy Worsley (BBC1, Tuesday) made a couple of nods in the direction of the pandemic without laying it on too thick. Worsley set out to discover how much of the tales about the time were true. Did the public really keep calm and carry on even as Hitler rained bombs down on them? Was everyone all in it together?

This was a quietly subversive film from Worsley, showing that things were never quite as simple as the papers and the Government painted them. There was huge resentment as the poor went through hell night after night, while the rich took to hotel basements where mattresses and silk sheets awaited. As for the “keep calm” poster and its ilk, the public thought them horribly patronising. People were angry, terrified, and highly critical of what they saw as government unpreparedness (sound familiar?). When ordinary people and charities such as the Red Cross got together, good things happened (again, ring a bell?).

As with her previous film on the suffragettes, the story was told in large part via actors reading genuine, first hand accounts. We heard from Nina the shop girl, Frances the socialite, Frank the fireman, and so on, all addressing the camera directly. It was a powerful way of bringing the past roaring back to life.

The 95-minutes raced by, with Worsley, mercifully, forgoing her usual trip to the dressing up box. One fault, however, and it was a pretty big one. Though other places, including Clydebank, that were bombed were given a namecheck at the start, they were barely referred to again. It was London, London, London. If Worsley wanted to add to viewers’ knowledge about the Blitz she could have done more to show it was not just London that suffered.

Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig (Channel 4, Wednesday) came to Scotland and a fab time was had by all courtesy of some fabulous homes to stay in. Part of their appeal, besides, in one case, having a private chef to hand, was their remoteness. They were so lovely I fancied booking one. Only trouble is, almost everyone who saw the programme will have had the same idea. Tell you what, forget the programme, forget I said anything. Thanks.

From its title, Gordon Ramsay’s Bank Balance (BBC1, Wednesday-Friday) looked interesting. How would this new quiz show work? Were contestants going to guess how much was in the shouty one’s bank accounts and the closest could have half? That would have been simple. That would have made sense. Even been a tad entertaining.

The game at the heart of Gordon Ramsay’s Bank Balance was none of the above. Punters had to answer a series of questions that would give them access to plastic bars, some gold, some silver, some carrying a penalty. They then had to stack these bars on a wonky see-saw. If they got all the bars on, and nothing fell off, they could win £100,000. “Do you think I’d make it easy?” asked Ramsay. No mate, but we did not think you’d make it this flipping difficult to fathom.

Who knew what was going on as contestants shouted at each other and Ramsay tried his hand, unsuccessfully, at some quiz show bantz. He started off with his hair gelled up and smart. By the end, like the wonky see-saw, his hair had collapsed, as had any notion of watching this again. Odd. Ramsay being a chef you think he’d recognise mince when he saw it.