distinct and distinctive visions of Olde England. Bridget Christie’s six-part comedy (Channel 4) aired amid a season devoted to the under-dramatised topic of the menopause, and part of its project was develops into something far stranger and more enchanting than a televised biology class. Merrily broaching a subject from which other creatives have shied away in terror, it’s finally a celebration of change in all its forms. Shane Meadows once made genial, knockabout big-screen comedies about dads and lads and blokes in chip shops, and then pivoted to making heavyhitting state-of-the-nation addresses. A little of both, (iPlayer) forms a typically lively riff on Ben Myers’ 2017 novel about the true-life misadventures of the Cragg Vale Coiners, 18th-century weavers and farmhands who, lacking two pennies to rub together, collectivised to fashion knock-off currency. Meadows’ semi-improvised style may shock anybody expecting polished Downtonisms, but he’s tremendous on community, and how people bond over a common cause. Between trippy glimpses of horned “stag men” (seen grooving in Bond-girl silhouette under the end credits), these three hours set the present in vibrant, funny, instructive conversation with the past. More please, BBC—even if you have to clip a few coins of your own to fund it.
