On the box: Mo | Tower Block of Commons | Hotter Than My Daughter

Published on Sunday 7 February 2010 10:34

MO Channel 4 Sunday, 9pm TOWER BLOCK OF COMMONS Channel 4 Monday, 9pm HOTTER THAN MY DAUGHTER BBC3 Thursday, 8.30pm

THERE was a telling moment near the end of Mo – for Mowlam and those of us watching – when the issue became less about how long she had left to live and more about who's life it had been up until that point. "What's the real me and what's the tumour?" she asked her doctor. "Good old Mo, the Mo that everybody loves – has all of that been the tumour?"

For example, was it her illness which made her address Peter Mandelson as a "devious c***", or was it her fundamental Mo-ness which, on another occasion, was compelling her to tell him: "You're such a dick." Nothing against the "silly old queen" (another of Mowlam's terms of endearment), but I really wanted to believe the latter.

For the past couple of years, telly drama has had great fun at New Labour's expense. Neil McKay's script wasn't really a satire and he was less concerned with the slickness and the control-freakery, although they were in there. Mo had more in common with old-style Hollywood biopics in its portrayal of what someone called "the people's politician" – old-school and often off-message, a woman but not really a Blair Babe, who drank pints, ate chips and confessed to her husband before five minutes were up: "God, I need a f***."

I'm guessing, but the production meeting to decide who should play the indomitable Mowlam probably lasted all of 0.85 seconds; in other words, the time taken to say "Julie Walters". And the dream casting delivered the dream performance. Walters was superb, as you knew she would be, relishing every salty utterance and crashing through the gearbox of emotions as illness threatened to interfere with her vital work in Northern Ireland.

The same doctor had revealed that the brain tumour's side-effects, and the treatment required, would result in hair loss and weight gain and that there would be some "disinhibition". I didn't think this was going to mean Mowlam squatting on the toilet like Les Dawson in drag in full view of her male aides and speculating on John Major's penis size in relation to Michael Heseltine's – so it's probably safe to say that David Trimble wasn't ready for her flashing like Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct when she asked, re the peace process for the province: "What do I have to do to convince you there's no hidden agenda?"

If it was disinhibition that led her to whip off her wig for a "bloody good scratch" during her first encounter with an obstinate Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, then it stopped their ranting about 1690 and she could restart the meeting with "no cocks on the table". But I wanted to believe that Mowlam, healthy and not facing death, would have secured the same result, and in this engrossing film – occasionally sentimental, but that was okay – it was possible to do this. Was everything true? Right now I don't really care.

Mowlam, you feel, would have coped all right with Tower Block Of Commons, the latest you-try-living-here reality show featuring four MPs. The phrase "high-flying" was bandied about a lot. Tim Loughton was described as a "high-flying Tory" and Mark Oaten a "high-flying Lib Dem", until he got embroiled in a sex scandal. But none of them knew about high-rise living, not even Austin Mitchell, the veteran Labour man.

Mitchell was posted to Hull and, first morning, was out looking for a newspaper. The only functioning "shop" was where his landlady Selina, a heroin addict, picked up her methodone. He was stunned. "I thought our drugs problem was enormously exaggerated – folklore."

Mitchell's wife Linda – he was the only MP to request back-up for the experiment – then revealed she'd been hooked on valium when bringing up their children. Mitchell was double-stunned.

After Oaten was taunted by kids over his tabloid notoriety, his landlady Cathy feared he might try a flying heidie, or whatever they're called in Essex. "People are cruel, but he's just had one day here – he should try ten years." He pulled himself together and organised a campaign to get the damp-ravaged block blown up.

The fourth MP was Iain Duncan Smith, forced to wear a hoodie and be quizzed on when he lost his virginity before his wife's illness sent him home. He's yesterday's Tory, Loughton hopes to be tomorrow's, and his biggest sacrifice was giving up his mobile phone when he was dispatched to Birmingham. "But I have to check my messages," he protested.

Just imagine: the government-forming call comes through from David Cameron and Loughton's too busy showing off the secret hand-jive for B19 block, hanging tough with a starched Viyella shirt draped from his breeks.

"Mum, you're my mum!" It was the most desperate plea of the telly week. Kobie, 20, was self-consciously retreating into ever more frumpy attire while her hot-panted and spangly boob-tubed mother Sharon, 40, was letting everything, including the enhanced bits, hang out. On Hotter Than My Daughter, Liz McClarnon organised a makeover. Suddenly, instead of trying to look 16, Sharon was almost passing for 19. A relieved Kobie cried; in fact we all did.

&#149 This article was first published in Scotland on Sunday on 07 February 2010