The first to compete for a place in the final concert was a youngster whose mum bought him a keyboard from Argos when he was four. “I come from a single parent family in a lovely council estate full of needles and students,” he said. He played Ballade No.4 by Chopin, “a very difficult piece” said Lang Lang.
Wherever he went, on television and radio, the former First Minister did his best to make every show The Salmond Show. The first question he should have been asked was, “Where is Ash Regan?” Salmond after all hailed Alba’s sole MSP as the most powerful member of the Scottish Parliament, with her vote critical in deciding Yousaf’s fate. Why wasn’t she the one being interviewed?
The Piano (Channel 4, Sunday, 9pm) is back, promising new station venues, fresh amateur hopefuls ready to make a public piano sing, and the same judges and presenter in Lang Lang, Mika and Claudia Winkleman. One of the ratings smashes of last year, bringing in some three million viewers, The Piano was a word-of-mouth hit for Channel 4. Series one was followed by a Christmas special and the commissioning of two more runs.
As thrillers go, Red Eye (ITV1, Sunday) sits on the part of the spectrum that houses Air Force One, with occasional blasts of Airplane! It’s Sunday night ludicrous, but enjoyably so, and you learn a thing or two as well. For starters, never eat someone else’s vegan meal.
As Humza Yousaf walked towards that increasingly famous Bute House podium he looked the picture of confidence.The task before him involved a certain degree of unpleasantness but there was no need to be brutal. The partnership with the Scottish Greens had outlived its usefulness, that is all. How long, one wonders, before the same is being said of him?
A lot of people in Wales hated the 20mph policy. Half a million of them to be precise, all of whom signed a petition to say so. And what did the Welsh government do? A lovely big U-turn, that is what. Councils were told they could go back to 30mph where it was deemed necessary and safe.
Across television and radio, politics show presenters competed to see who could best convey the mood of the past seven days. Kuenssberg said it had not been “the prettiest week” while The Sunday Show’s Martin Geissler described “another bruising week” for the Scottish Government and the Scottish Greens in particular.
Good Starring David Tennant (BBC4, Sunday, 10pm) brings a filmed performance of CP Taylor’s modern classic to the small screen. This is the National Theatre production that marked Tennant’s triumphant return to the West End post-pandemic. Directed by Dominic Cooke, the filmed version had a run in cinemas last April but now it comes to terrestrial TV and is yours to watch free (save for the licence fee).
Nina, whose cringeworthy father is played by Greg Hemphill, is a likeable sort. There are no unlikeable characters in Dinosaur, though a fair few are unbelievable. But like I said, it is glossy, different, upbeat and it tries hard.
