Quiet weekend. Barely left the house to nurse the end of this cold. Plenty of time to ponder the dire state of British television and do some reading. Shame, really. The weather appears to have been lovely.

Watched the second part of Stephen Poliakoff's The Lost Prince. The story of Prince John, the youngest son of George V and Queen Mary who, because of his epilepsy and various behavioural problems, was hidden from public view, deprived of royal life and the attention of his parents. It's typical Poliakoff -- slow, incidental, moving -- and a visual tour through Royal life in the early part of the last century. Miranda Richardson, as Queen Mary, was particularly stunning. One forgets the inter-breeding and familial broodings that meant that most of the monarchs of Europe were cousins: the Germans, Austrians, Greeks, Russians, and English -- all descendants of Queen Victoria.

Poliakoff is also responsible Almost Strangers, starring Matthew MacFayden.