Mr Smug and friends (From This Is Cheshire)

Mr Smug and friends

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REGULAR readers of this column will know of my irrational antipathy for a couple of thespians - namely James Nesbitt and Caroline Quentin - so to watch Mr Smug for a whole hour on Monday was quite a feat.

In BBC1's three-parter, Occupation, Jimmy was also in army uniform, looking - and at times sounding - like an Irish Ross Kemp.

The drama followed the experiences of three soldiers from the north west, who serve in Iraq and then find their lives going in different directions when they return home.

As Mike Swift, Nesbitt starts off as the hero of the trio, carrying a young Iraqi girl to safety after she is badly injured in an explosion. He saves the girl's life with the help of a young Iraqi woman doctor, who then becomes the focus of his affections.

Back in Manchester, he finds himself unable to slip back into family life, while his two compatriots, Hibbsy (Warren Brown) and Danny (Stephen Graham), struggle to adapt as well.

Danny eventually teams up with an American ex-soldier to form a security company, protecting businessmen in Iraq. This led to the most bizarre scene of the first episode, as Danny stripped naked, shouting 'I'm English!' to an approaching tank, after driving away from an ambush with a car full of injured men.

Having forced myself to endure the sight of Nesbitt agonising over his situation for 60 long minutes - with no respite for adverts - I was ready to shout 'Enough is enough!'

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