Airdate: Man in an Orange Shirt

BBC First screens a 2 part period drama Man in an Orange Shirt which tells two love stories, 60 years apart – stories linked by family and a painting, with a secret that echoes down the generations.

The screenwriting debut by bestselling British novelist Patrick Gale, this charts the challenges and huge changes to gay lives from the Second World War to the present day with Julian Morris, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Vanessa Redgrave.

In 1944, British Army Captain Michael Berryman meets war artist Thomas March in Southern Italy while chaos reigns all around them. Despite having a young fiancé, Flora, waiting at home for him, straight-laced Michael finds himself falling for Thomas’ bohemian charms.

In 2017, an ageing Flora looks on as her grandson, Adam, tentatively forms a relationship with his client Steve in a more accepting world. But while the external obstacles have fallen away, a minefield of internalised issues and dangerous temptations still line the road to happiness.

8:30pm Saturday on BBC First.