Tommy McDonnell

Best of all [of the Playhouse Presents episodes] was last week's Mr Understood, co-created by Grayson Perry and Kate Hardie, about a young man attending his first transvestite social.

Tom Brooke's Gary battles with his shame, played by Tommy McDonnell, who follows him around, spitting insults and insecurities. Everyone else has an embodiment of shame, too: a disco full of transvestite doubles, one smiling while the other heckles, opens out into a heart-swelling scene of self-acceptance as Gary and his other half dance with wild abandon. The next day, though, it's business as usual - nagging doubt that needs drowning out. Television rarely catches the inner life this well, nor attempts characters so complex.

Grayson Perry is one of the names - alongside writer/director Kate Hardie - behind this touching tale of a transvestite struggling to come to terms with his urge to dress as a woman. The fear and self-loathing plaguing young Gary (Tom Brooke) are made flesh in the form of Tommy McDonnell's Frank, an obnoxious "inner voice" that adds pathos to a subtle drama that probes aspects of self-identity with wit and intelligence. Neil Dudgeon and Claire Skinner add sterling support.