Nigel Farndale on the week's television: Boris Johnson: the Irresistible Rise, Wodehouse in Exile, Pompeii: the Mystery of the People Frozen in Time Apparently Johnson was nervous about taking part in this film but figured that, on balance, if he did it would leave less airtime for his enemies. The gamble paid off as you came away not only feeling even fonder of him, but realising that there is something decidedly Churchillian about him. And he finally admitted that he would consider standing as PM "if the ball came loose from the back of the scrum." The only thing missing was the clip of him accidently head-butting a German footballer in the groin, during a tackle in a charity football match. Shame that, because it never fails to cheer me up on YouTube. Wodehouse in Exile (Monday, BBC Four) was screened at the same time as the Johnson documentary, and perhaps one was channelling the other. Johnson's writing style can be quite Wodehousian, after all. The drama told the tale of how PG Wodehouse landed himself in trouble when, after being interned by the Germans in 1940, he agreed to make some broadcasts from Berlin to let his American fans know he was safe. Although this was said to be "inspired" by true events, writer Nigel Williams did perhaps airbrush a little too freely out of (understandable) love for his subject. He didn't, for example, include the most controversial line in the broadcasts, when Plum speculated about what the English would be like after the war "whether England wins or not." Wodehouse was naïve to say it at such a desperate time for England, but say it he did. The recurring theme about the Germans having no sense of humour was a little laboured and their "sinister" laughter seemed hammy, like something from Blackadder. But Tim Pigott-Smith put in a moving performance as Wodehouse, and Zoë Wanamaker was inspired casting as Ethel, Wodehouse's formidable wife. A documentary maker in search of a subject has three he or she can turn to which will almost guarantee a commission: Lord Lucan, the Titanic and Pompeii. The trouble is, because they crop up so regularly there isn't much left to say about any of them, although Pompeii certainly qualifies as topical at the moment considering the major exhibtion on the subject that has just opened at the British Museum. In Pompeii: the Mystery of the People Frozen in Time (Wednesday, BBC One) former Apprentice sidekick Margaret Mountford felt she had a new angle on Pompeii, and I dare say it was. But boy, did she milk it. She wanted to solve the mystery of the strange poses. The answer was heat from the volcano's pyroclastic current. There, that didn't take long, did it? This documentary lasted an hour, but with the constant re-capping, it felt more like five.