It’s six months after the Americans launched a nuclear missile at China, and yet we still seem to be alive…

That Russell T Davies is a sneaky one! At the end of the first part of his futuristic drama he had us believe that civilisation was over as we knew it, and yet while 45,000 people died in the nuclear blast, the world keeps turning. Six months is a long time in this universe, with characters in different places to where we left them at matriarch Anne Reid’s annual party, or indeed at the following reunion, but the fighting spirit remains.

President Pence is now running America and the bird population has fallen by 50%, but equally worrying is the rise of politician Viv Rook (a terrifying Emma Thompson) who has ambitions on a seat in Manchester following the incumbent’s accidental decapitation by drone. Her constituents know she’s a monster and yet there’s something about her plain-talking that is appealing to the voters.

Two major plot lines revolve around the Lyons brothers – Stephen (Rory Kinnear) loses over a million pounds when a bank collapses and Daniel (Russell Tovey) loses his new partner because he’s deported. All of this is played out under the spectre of Edith’s (Jessica Hynes) admission on live TV that she strayed too close to the nuclear explosion and now has radiation poisoning.

Verdict: Misery is laid upon misery on the Lyons clan, and it’s beautifully observed by Davies who manages to squeeze in the mundanity of real life in-between the tragedy and high drama. Oh, and this week’s future tech highlight has to be the phone that’s implanted into your hand – it can’t be far off. 8/10

Nick Joy