TV preview, Doctor Who (BBC1, Today 6.45pm): The Beginning of the End

Doctor Who, or rather the Peter Capaldi iteration of the show, begins an intergallactically long goodbye tonight, one that is destined to spin all the way to an extra special Christmas special. Bowing out with the 12th Doctor is his would-be nemesis Missy (Michelle Gomez) and writer Steven Moffat, all of whom have helped keep the Time Lord at the top of the BBC’s stock of globally famous, and lucrative, assets. We’re promised a dramatic beginning of the end and the return, again, of the Master (John Simms) and the Cybermen. Capaldi, Gomez and Moffat are all from Glasgow, by the way, which apparently looks a lot like Doctor Who planet Gallifrey. A hard act to follow, that threesome, in any case.

Though I might quibble with the grammatical correctness of the title, Britain’s Great Gay Buildings offers an enjoyable roam round the nation’s gay history. These include the Heaven nightclub in London, Richard Coles’s favourite, Mary Portas’s choice of Shibden Hall in Yorkshire, 19th century epicentre of lesbian lust, while Simon Callow nominates the Old Bailey, from whence Oscar Wilde went to Reading Gaol. Stephen Fry presides in his usual fashion.

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Natural World: Sudan: The Last of the Rhinos is about as sad as sad can be, telling the story of the last living male northern white rhino, who happens to be named ‘Sudan’ but lives, in relative safety, in a reserve in northern Kenya, having spent the last 30 years in a zoo in the Czech Republic. He and two females are the end of the line for this sub-species, and I suppose the actually surprising thing is that there any rhinos of any type left in the wild, such is the value of their horn and the desperation and ruthlessness of the poachers. Tough, but essential viewing.

Once upon a time, long ago, I was invited to do a moonlight flit and go to Glastonbury. It did sound exciting, and in those days it was a far less commercial and rammed event than it has become. I was up for it, and the company looked interesting. After some further enquiries about the sanitary arrangements, however, I rejected the offer of a lift in a Transit, and have never regretted it. I hope their loos are more user-friendly these days (let's just say that even by the 1980s they were using techniques that would have been familiar to the squaddies in the Great War). Either way Glasto is probably best experienced in the comfort of your own home, courtesy of the BBC.

Before long, I predict, driverless cars powered by electricity will be commonplace, and will transom personal mobility. Imagine, in other words, a world where no one needs a driving licence any more, and where anyone can get from A to B in their own personal transport. They could even sleep their way there. Imagine, though, the congestion it could bring, and the accidents, if such things are still possible in this potential future. Such a prospect is examined, not before time, by Justin Webb in Thursday’s Horizon: Dawn of the Driverless Cars. Civilised, witty, courteous – could Webb be the thinking person’s answer to Jeremy Clarkson? Certainly a model of telly presenter with less noxious emissions, I should say.

Last, I must mention the remarkable Secret Life of Posh Pets, which features a £4,000 “dog wedding” among other obscene examples of conspicuous canine consumption. Enough to turn any human into a socialist.