The Long Firm (BBC2)

Medical Mysteries (BBC1)

HARRY Starks never does anything to anyone else that he wouldn't do to himself. So, in the third part of 1960s-set drama The Long Firm, he showed how, given enough saliva, putting a red hot poker in your mouth won't hurt except in a masochistic sort of way.

By the way, don't try it at home, children. His victim, who had chopped up one of Harry's rent boys, didn't appreciate the demonstration as his torturer followed it by shoving the aforementioned poker down his throat.

This may well rate as the year's most gruesome scene, beaten only by the queasiness induced by the Big Brother moment as manipulative Michelle led hapless Stu like a lamb to the slaughter for a "cuddle" under the table. What a shame the lovebirds aren't up for eviction this week so we could separate them and free Stu from the clinging clutches of the obsessed Geordie.

The Long Firm is shaping up as one of the year's best dramas as London crime boss and friend of Dorothy Squires - played with icy, unpredictable menace by Mark Strong - continues on its unpleasant way.

Judy Garland (someone impersonating her, to be accurate) made an appearance in episode two and Dorothy Squires this week. Harry loves both singers, prompting a friend to ask why queens go for "some washed out old bint wailing about what a mess they've got themselves into"?.

There are more important questions to be answered, like discovering the reasons for ALD, a degenerative disease that attacks the brains of young males and for which there's no cure.

It might have remained a little-known condition if it hadn't been for one couple's determination and a Hollywood movie, Lorenzo's Oil. While the film offered more grounds for hope than existed, it did raise worldwide awareness of ALD.

Twenty years ago, when young son Lorenzo was diagnosed with the disease, his parents had no scientific training but lived five minutes from the biggest health library in the world. They educated themselves about ALD and dedicated themselves to finding a cure.

It was a simple and single-minded as that. They badgered experts to help them, found an oil they believed would ease the condition, and persuaded a company in Hull to make a batch. Their story became a film starring Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon, whose fault was being over-optimistic about the oil's effect.

The documentary heard heartbreaking stories from Lorenzo's father - his mother died three years ago - and other parents with ALD-affected children.

Now the results of a ten-year trial into Lorenzo's Oil have shown it can't cure ADL but can help prevent it. At the age of seven, Lorenzo was given two years to live. He's now 25 and remains in a stable condition, proving perhaps that optimism about the oil was not entirely misplaced