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It’s natural that, while you may want to stay on the cutting edge of prestige TV drama and join in all those “How great is Shogun?!” conversations of the moment, there are also times when the world makes you want to shrink down to the size of a Subbuteo player, step into a book illustration from a copy of Thumbelina you owned as a child, and go to sleep underneath a single feather inside a walnut shell.

Those walnut shell moments demand a TV accompaniment that isn’t noisy or confrontational. There should be no difficult thoughts there, just a gentle tide of ‘everything’s okay-ness’ lapping at your brain’s shore. These British TV shows all provide exactly that sense of comfort. Please recommend your own picks below.

The Good Life

Stream on: BritBox (UK & US)

Tom and Barbara, Jerry and Margo. Repeat those names as a mantra...

This feature debut from American director Richie Adams is firmly in the tradition of the likes of Catherine Cookson and Barbara Taylor-Bradford, although the novel source material here was written by a man, John Mackay, which unfortunately shows in its inability to truly get under the skin of its heroine. It has the well-made but familiar feel of a Sunday evening drama on ITV or the Beeb - a slot that it could well find itself occupying at some time in the future, especially after taking home the Audience Award after its Eiff world premiere.

Set in the run up to the First World War on the Hebridean Isle of Lewis, the story takes place in the tiny coastal village of Garenin. It is here that Kirsty Macleod (Hermione Corfield) lives on a croft with her mother (Morvern Christie) and sister Annie (Ali Fumiko Whitney) since the death of her.

UKTV has announced new Freeview channel Drama.

The station will launch on July 8 and feature shows including Pride and Prejudice, Catherine Cookson's The Cinder Path, Sharpe, Tipping The Velvet, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Cranford and Lark Rise to Candleford.

UKTV controller Emma Tennant said: "Drama is targeted at a different audience demographic than our other highly successful free-to-air channels, Dave, Yesterday and Really.

"The channel is aimed at people who simply love drama and want to watch critically-acclaimed shows that have absolutely defined the landscape of British television."

She added: "I am very passionate about the subject and discussing the programmes that will create Drama's schedule has just been brilliant fun.

"I'm genuinely excited about the launch of Drama both as a viewer and as controller."

General manager of drama Adrian Wills added: "Drama lovers' prayers have been answered.

"This channel represents the best drama content within the genre and...

To celebrate ITV Studios Home Entertainment’s fantastic Christmas DVD box set collection, including classics such as Prime Suspect, Jeeves & Wooster, Darling Buds of May and The Catherine Cookson Collection, we’ve taken a look at stars past and present – unearthing some modern-day stars with very humble beginnings on the little square box that sits in the corner of the living room…

1) Catherine Zeta-Jones

Although Catherine Zeta Jones began acting in her local theatre, she found her breakthrough role in playing Mariette Larkin in The Darling Buds of May at the tender age of 22. Jones has seen gone on to become a Hollywood A-lister, married to A List resident Michael Douglas and acting with someone of the biggest film stars including Sean Connery, Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Liam Neeson, Tom Hanks, and Billy Crystal, in such films as The Mask of Zorro, America’s Sweethearts, The Haunting, Intolerable Cruelty and Chicago,...

After Gwyneth Paltrow's harsh verdict on her grandmother, four readers describe their own grandparental relationships

Hannah Jane Parkinson aka HannahJane: 'I wish I had paid more attention to them as individuals'

On reading that Gwyneth Paltrow had called her grandmother a "real cunt" on live television, I was reminded of an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm and of Larry David's disgrace when a typo in an obit results in him paying tribute not to his beloved aunt, but to his beloved... well, you can guess the rest.

My grandmother probably would have hated Curb Your Enthusiasm. It would have had "no plot". Grandma liked a good plot. Which, when I think about it, doesn't really explain her copious devouring of Catherine Cookson novels. Then again, she was a contrary type, fond of admonishing me with: "Don't fucking swear!"

Last Good Friday marked the second anniversary of her death,...