This Country
BBC3

The mockumentary has been the format of some of the best British comedy since This Is Spinal Tap; it’s the combination of the apparent high-seriousness of the traditional documentary investigation and the unpredictable silliness of so much of human life that makes it a gift that keeps on giving. Pretensions are exposed, modern pieties and moral panics skewered and the fourth wall comprehensively dismantled with a befuddled wink rather than a knowing Fleabaggish artiness.

For those who haven’t yet encountered it, the glorious, Bafta-winning This Country, which entered its third series this week, is a classic of the genre. It is written and created by brother and sister Daisy and Charlie Cooper who play cousins Kerry and Kurtan Mucklowe (inset), stars of a solemn investigation into “disadvantaged and marginalised” young people in rural Britain.