TV preview, The People’s History of LGBTQ Britain (BBC4, Thursday 9pm): A trip to another country

Two highlights for next week are a couple of frank disquisitions on gay history, a subject that is endlessly fascinating.

The People’s History of LGBTQ Britain, where Stephen K Amos and Susan Calman introduce us to the men and women at the forefront of the struggle for their rights back in the 1960s; and Against the Law tells the story of the remarkable Peter Wildeblood, a journalist who got caught up in the “Montagu Case” in the early 1950s, a high-profile affair that led to his jailing for the then-crime of "buggery", in the high noon or British official homophobia.

These early homosexual activists had to endure vast amounts of abuse and persecution, wrecked lives and also blackmail, and had, in truth, remarkably few allies in parliament and the establishment, even among those who were themselves LGBTQ. Whatever you make of the current debate about gay marriage and adoption, transgender rights and changing the very language we use to describe gender and sexual preferences, it is still difficult to believe quite what another country Britain used to be, and not so very long ago. And, by the way, Wildeblood’s book is a gripping read.

By far the best news to come out of the world of telly lately is that BBC3 has commissioned a second series of the inspired mockumentary This Country. Obviously not for next week, more likely the autumn, and soon the cameras will return to the Cotswolds and we will meet cousins Kerry and Lee “Kurtan” Mucklowe (Daisy and Charlie Cooper), their mates in Dump Gang and, maybe, Uncle Nugget and the elusive Bumworth. In-joke for fellow This Country cultists: the show must be enjoyed while eating turkey dinosaurs and pizza (which is to be consumed from the middle outwards, and not via conventional slicing).

For this week, we’ll have to make do for laughs with The Windsors, which is as silly as it is hilarious. Episode four sees civil unrest envelope Poundbury, “Prince Charles’ sustainable toytown”, as its described.

The real Windsors, on the other hand, turn up on Monday in Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, when, in what are plainly painful circumstances, William and Harry reflect on the life and death of their mother, who died in that infamous car crash 20 years ago next month. Two million people came to London to pay their respects to Diana, and the Queen’s uncharacteristic failure to read the public mood almost brought the whole monarchy down. The institution was probably saved by Tony Blair and Alastair Campbell advising her to come down from Balmoral and address the nation on TV, an electrifying moment – but that’s no doubt material for another documentary, not this one.

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For viewers in London, now that the summer holidays are here, I ought also to mention that London Live (which is commercially linked to The Independent) is launching a new children’s programming strand, Bounce, which will broadcast Monday to Saturday in the mornings, and features a raft of UK premieres including Heidi, Tashi, K3 and the UK linear premiere of Glitter Force, plus some Power Rangers and Digimon.

Turning up a bit late – I’ll explain why – is Paul Mason’s Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere, a play derived from his book of the same name. Mr Mason, former economics editor for Channel 4 and for BBC Newsnight, is to be congratulated for doing his bit to popularise economics, and to make sense of the often dizzying events of the past few years. Yet with the Arab Spring and the Greek crises some distance behind us, and straightforward terrorism taking the place of the collapse of finance capitalism as the biggest threat to the world, this stage play looks a little out of date. Still worth catching, though, even if the context has moved on as it’s a usefully challenging work, here performed live.

Britain’s children – those citizens who will in all likelihood live to see in the 22nd century – get some deserved attention. Excluded at Seven shows how rapidly misbehaviour or truanting can convert into school exclusion and blighted life chances. Addicted Parents: Last Chance to Keep My Children, meanwhile, couldn’t have a more heartbreaking premise about what drugs, in this case heroin, can do to a family.

Last, you need to know that Ripper Street comes to an end, possibly forever (shame), and Nadiya’s British Food Adventure catches up with the Bakewell tart/pudding, the true nature and recipe of which remains a bitterly contested business in the lovely Peak District. I’m sure she will adjudicate wisely.