Shrink Rap - Heather Mills, Wednesday 9pm, More4

Posted by Stewart Turner

Not since Adolf Hitler invaded Poland has one person been as loathed by the Great British Public as Heather Mills. Never one to admit defeat, and obviously buoyed by her decent showing on Dancing On Ice, the much-maligned ex-Mrs McCartney clearly believes we’re still there to be won over.

Whether an hour’s televised psychoanalysis is the right way to do it is another matter, although a few people would doubtless agree a session with an analyst was long overdue. And it didn’t take a swinging pocket watch or some word association to penetrate Heather’s innermost thoughts – by the end of the show she was practically analysing herself.

We kicked off with a potted history of Heather’s much discussed childhood, which mainly centred on her violent, abusive dad, who was under the impression he was the dead German composer Richard Wagner. After her mum left, the abuse centred on Heather and her sisters.

It’s hard not to be shocked at the upbringing and rotten luck Mills has had over the years, but there were still hints of delusion. She made the laughable claim that her modelling past was somehow not pornographic because it was for a “sex education book” – something which might make sense if people needed lessons on the best pair of lacy knickers to wear or how to eat a banana in a saucy manner. Still, she was right to highlight the hypocrisy of the tabloids in taking the moral high ground when they persist in plastering a naked teenager on Page 3 every day.

Dr Pamela herself was also prone to a few jarring moments, at one point claiming that the reason Heather is so loathed is that we all feel woefully inadequate in the face of her incessant charity work. Sigmund Freud must be spinning in his grave.

If you haven’t seen Shrink Rap before, it’s worth tuning in for to see a celeb get a grilling without the motivation of flogging their next film, book or TV show. In fact, last night’s show was purely about Heather selling herself back to the British public. It might be better if she just kept her head down.