Douglas is Cancelled (ITV)

Patience and endurance are required to get beyond the first episode of this program, which seems to be yet another defence of the poor, downtrodden, middle-aged, middle class white male, who just can’t say anything anymore. All of the characters are horrible – the least obnoxious the titular TV presenter who falls foul of cancel culture. But although heavy handed, this twisty critique of the media and entertainment industry has some valid points to make about how the good guys, the not-all men, need to stop turning a blind eye to the monsters and step up as allies to the real victims. Karen Gillan plays the ambitious and manipulative Madeleine and Hugh Bonneville the nice-guy Douglas, who switch our sympathies and keep us guessing about the truth. Alex Kingston is amusing as a terrible tabloid editor and not-so supportive wife. It’s frustrating that there are few consequences for the worst behaved character, who is enabled by the system he works in, but this is probably the most true-to-life element of the story.