Now and then, a hefty dose of nostalgia is good for the soul.
Nostalgia allows history to be washed clean of any minor unpleasantness or discomfort and enjoyed the way it was meant to be: happily.
Britain's Best Drives takes nostalgia, adds an actor with one of those excellently fruity English accents, and a Morris Minor 1000, and takes us back to the 1950s.
The '50s is a decade given a bad rap by gyrating, greasy-haired rock'n'rollers but it's a decade that deserves better.
In the 1950s, men wore hats.
Ladies wore gloves and hats.
Children dressed up to go out.
It was a tidy, well-dressed decade.
Britain's Best Drives (Living Channel, from January 16) takes Richard Wilson, an actor, theatre director and presenter best known for playing Victor Meldrew in BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave, puts him in a car from the period and sends him off with some 1950s guidebooks to explore the countryside.
Despite being Scottish, he's perfect for the job.
The other very good thing about Britain's Best Drives is that everybody involved is exceedingly polite, a quality of which I am exceedingly fond.
In show No 1 struggling slightly with the gears, Wilson heads off, past the Hole of Horcum, past Goathland, and ends up in Scarborough.
And joyously, there is a fair.
Not a lot else seems to happen, except that our host meets some people along the way, and for this quiet bit of television, that seems quite enough.
He meets a group of goths in Whitby, apparently a magnet for the goth community.
"And you're goths?" he asks a group of wild-haired young folk wearing gallons of black hair dye and litres of mascara.
"Indeed" say the goths, politely.
Future episodes promise even more delights.
In episode 2 Wilson drives a Ford Zephyr, in episode 3 a Volkswagen, then a Triumph, an Austin and a Bentley.
Just like the cars we drove in New Zealand in the 1960s, which I remember as being a very nice decade, with no unpleasantness or discomfort at all.
Before we get to New Year viewing, of course, there is excitement-plus on TV2 as Shortland St approaches the year's end.
"Recent years in Shortland Street have ignored the fact that it's Christmas, but this year we're celebrating it," producer Steven Zanoski boasts.
"As we push further towards Christmas, tensions, secrets and rivalries that have bubbled through the season push to the surface.
"It leads to an explosive end of year.
"Everything viewers know and expect is about to be shaken up."
Take a seat, grab your remote, and hook on to a wild ride.
