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I think most of us were waiting for this documentary with some apprehension. A film about coping with a beloved elderly parent in mental decline was given an edge because the parent in question was Norman Wisdom. It was a strange documentary with a commentary by David Mitchell (of Mitchell and Webb), use of sometimes inappropriate music from Norman’s films (as if this was yet another comedy role for Norman) and full of hints that the film-making team had little respect for the man’s achievements (that curious remark that he lived in the Isle of Man because he was recognised there, for instance…). I got the impression that in the end, the seriousness of the subject matter got the better of their wish to mock and perhaps there was a dawning realisation that most people would have made up their own minds about Norman’s stature long before seeing this film. The result was an ultimately rewarding glimpse of Norman in his twilight.

It should also clear up the controversy over the family’s decision to put Norman in a home, exposing the Sunday Mail’s article to have been the malign rubbish we always knew it to be and poses big question marks about the motivations of those people who went on the offensive in the wake of that news. Of course, there are still criticisms of the family’s actions flying around the press after the screening of this documentary, but these are muted ones of degree rather than of substance. The documentary clearly shows that they made arrangements amongst themselves which kept Norman out of an old people’s home for as long as was humanely possible, and once they succumbed to the inevitable (on medical advice as my original article suggested must be the case), it was done with a heavy heart as the best of available options.

I have had several emails asking whether that was me glimpsed in the sequence at the Encore awards. Yes, I had the honour and pleasure to spend what will almost certainly be Norman’s last official showbiz appearance at Johnny Mans’ table sitting next to Norman and his determined daughter-in-law Kim, indeed it was then that I first heard that this documentary was being made. Norman was in fine form that night, as you saw, going up on stage to sing a song and work the crowd. But it was also a heartbreaking night, Norman failing to recognise anyone with whom he was not in constant contact. On our previous meeting, his dedicated ex-PA turned carer Ann Axe told me that he would remember people after prompting and reminders, but on the Encore night, it was already clear that even that was no longer the case.

WONDERLAND: THE SECRET LIFE OF NORMAN WISDOM AGED 92¾ (BBC2)