IT is hard to throw a mucky stick these days without hitting a national treasure. Dame Judi, Alan Titchmarsh, Paddington Bear, the list is apparently endless. While it irks to add one more, needs must after watching Grayson Perry: Rites of Passage (Channel 4, Thursday, 10pm).

The artist set out to explore how societies here and abroad handle life’s landmark events: birth, coming of age, marriage and death. Just to start the series off on a high, he began with death and a trip to the Toraja people of Indonesia.

The Toraja believe that a funeral should be held when the family feel ready to say goodbye. This can take as long as a year, during which time the body is kept upstairs. The dearly departed is never left alone, with family and friends dropping in for visits. “I know the first question on your lips,” said Perry. “Does it smell?” Well, we would never be so rude, but since you brought it up ...

The answer is no, with the Toraja passing natural embalming skills down through the generations. People gave water buffalo as a mark of respect; the more buffalo, the greater the regard. The man being buried on this occasion merited 24. Before the beasts were slaughtered for a feast, they fought each other while the mourners cheered them on. “This is very different from a funeral in Britain,” said Perry.

Apart from that one instance of stating the obvious, Perry did not put a foot wrong, not easy to do when dealing with such a delicate subject. With the Toraja he was respectful yet occasionally playful, his manner matching the mood of what was a celebration of a long life.

The families he met in the UK were in an entirely different position. In Hounslow, Perry visited a father of two with MND who felt he was approaching the point where he did not want to battle the condition any more. In Middlesborough, he met grieving parents whose 17-year-old son had been knocked off his bicycle by a drunk driver.

Perry listened carefully to everything he was told, his artist’s eye taking in every detail. Every now and then, when trying to explain his thinking, he teetered on the verge of pretentiousness or absurdity, only to pull back at the last minute and smile at himself. Not an easy watch, but definitely an enriching one.

Over at The Real Marigold Hotel (BBC1, Wednesday, 9pm), the little band of celebrities of a certain age were preparing to bid farewell to India after a month’s stay. The programme had aimed to give them a taste of retirement in a place where the weather was always lovely and the cost of living a fraction of what it is here. I don’t think any of them had seriously considered a permanent move. They had enjoyed their stay – who wouldn’t warm to an all expenses paid holiday in a luxury hotel? – but now it was time to go.

The Real Marigold featured none of the bad behaviour often found in reality shows. The celebs here were too old and polite to embarrass themselves with screaming matches and sulking. Leave that to Celebrity Big Brother. If there was emotion on show it was on their terms, and it was handled sensitively, as when Syd Little spoke about losing a son to drugs and Susan George talked of how much she missed her late husband. Syd suggested a moment’s silence to remember both their loved ones, so that is what they did.

Ian and Janette Tough, aka The Krankies, have been the undoubted stars of this series, their devotion to each other after 48 years of marriage undimmed. Unaccustomed as he was, as a Scotsman, to speaking about his feelings, Ian went for it. “Janette’s made my life, without a doubt,” he said. “She is my life.”

Janette said it was funny that the more time you had with a person you loved the more time you wanted. “I’m so daft me,” she said, her eyes sparkling with tears. She sounded like the wisest woman in the world.

The highlight for Stanley “son of Boris” Johnson had been the “girls”. The what, Stanley? “When I say girls I mean … obviously they are still girls but they are … how should I put it … girls who have been girls for some time as it were.” A nation shouted at the telly, “Stop digging man and get yourself home!”

Another cheerio, this time to Unforgotten (STV, Sunday, 9pm). The season finale looked set to be a stately march to the exit, with the accused, the Jekyll and Hyde GP, having been arrested at the end of the penultimate episode. But writer Chris Lang had a few twists left, not least for DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker), who looked ready to quit the job, leaving Sunny and a young rising star detective to take over. No way, lady. Save our Cassie: the campaign starts now.