The Scandalous Lady W (BBC2, 9pm)

NATALIE Dormer (of Hunger Games, Game of Thrones and The Tudors fame) leads a cast of British actors in this gripping 18th Century drama, detailing the scandalous life of Seymour, Lady Worsley, who dared to leave her husband and elope with his best friend, Captain George Bisset, played by Aneurin Barnard (from Cilla and The White Queen).

Dormer plays the passionate, courageous Seymour, Lady Worsley, who escapes her troubled marriage only to find herself at the centre of a very public trial brought by her powerful husband Sir Richard Worsley, played by Shaun Evans (look a lot different to his starring role in Endeavour), who seeks compensation from her lover for the affair.

As this extraordinary true story unfolds, Lady Worsley takes the brave decision to publicly expose the secrets of her marriage: That her husband, a pervert and voyeur, preferred to watch her having sex with other men. The scandalous courtroom revelations challenge the hypocrisy of the law that brands a wife the property of her husband, calling into question the whole concept of a woman’s "worth".

In real life, Sir Richard sued his love rival Captain Bisset for £200,000 until Lady Worsley revealed all his sordid secrets, making herself a "possession" without worth. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that the jury still found in Sir Richard's favour, but awarded him just one shilling in damages.

This strange but true story of Lady Worsley has been brought to life by award-winning writer David Eldridge. Eldridge based his screenplay on author Hallie Rubenhold’s book, Lady Worsley’s Whim. The book was inspired by the full-length oil painting of Lady Worsley that hangs in Harewood House in Yorkshire. She is depicted wearing a bright red riding habit.

Dormer admits that she required a script of this nature to tempt her back into (and out of) corsets and says: "I am thrilled to be playing a woman who was so ahead of her time. Though our story is set in the 18th Century, it challenges and explores the issues still fully relevant today of freedom and equality.

"The real historical fact is so extraordinary and intoxicating. A woman couldn't inherit her own property or own her own property until 1870 with the Married Woman's (Property) Act.

"It was only 145 years ago. And most women who go round the street tweeting and ordering on their Net a Porter app have no idea how minute the time is that we have had equality."

Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild (C5, 9pm)

COMPARED to some of the other people who have been featured in this series, Nic and Ady Goddard may not seem to have travelled far – they have chosen to start their new life on the beautiful island of Rum in the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland. But just because they haven't left the UK, it doesn't mean the couple and their two children don't face some of the same challenges as families situated in more far-flung locations. Ben finds out what inspired the Goddards to leave a comfortable home in Worthing for a caravan on an eight-mile long island with only 40 other residents, and joins them in battling the elements as they dig the foundations for the new cobb house they hope will be their future home.

Revenge Porn (C4, 10pm)

ANNA Richardson goes to extraordinary lengths to investigate what happens when someone maliciously shares intimate photos of another person without their consent and, yes, it is nearly always by jilted ex-boyfriends. She meets the victims of such actions, talks to experts and confronts the perpetrators of these crimes, the effects of which can have devastating and life-changing consequences. As she digs deeper, she discovers a community of men who take pleasure from threatening and shaming women online and decides to place herself at the epicentre of the revenge porn phenomenon.

Viv Hardwick