The Field of Blood is a novel by Denise Mina, set in early 1980’s Glasgow, adapted into two one hour features for BBC by David Kane, who also directs. The cast list comes straight from Still Game. They play the kind of reporters on a Daily rag that you wouldn’t want to meet on a dark night: hard drinking, free smoking, no good fucks who think compassion is some kind of new drink. In other words, spot on. Peter Capladi is lurking in the back...

Is Bill Nighy the new Dame Judi Dench? Any film that requires a British actor requires a Nighy in the same way that any female role requires a Dench. Stephen Poliakoff’s (2009) Glorious 39, recently shown on BBC2, had a Nighy, as did David Hare’s Page Eight. As any passing numerologist or cabbalist will tell you the relationship between 39 and 8 leaves a 7, which is the number of creation and of a pieiad. * 8 is also the number of goals that...