BBC Four’s Britannia seasons have been a triumph each and every time. The documentaries focusing on jazz, soul, folk, comics and dance have all been interesting, informed, informative and pitched at just the right level. We have high expectations, then, for the next three-parter, Pop Britannia, which starts this coming Friday.

The first part looks at the emergence of pop music as we know it after the Second World War, when the influence of American rock and roll loomed large. It’ll be fun to see Cliff Richard in his really-rather-risque heyday, and chart the very managed careers of the likes Tommy Steel. Next week, the series enters the more familiar territory of the swinging ’60s, so it’ll be interesting to see if we’re told anything we don’t already know.