When the last trump sounds for Rupert Murdoch, and a weighing of his sins of omission and commission is made before St Peter, heavy on the scales that counterbalance these will be The Simpsons, pleading trumpet-tongued against his descent to a media-free Hell.

Indeed, such a scene might be matter for an episode of The Simpsons – since the show chooses its objects of satire, in a fine postmodern frenzy, from across the political and cultural spectrum, and enjoys biting the hands that feed it. And it has staked out a strong claim to the afterworld: the opening episode of the new series (series 15, new to UK terrestrial TV; series 19 has run in the US) has Homer Simpson slay death in its familiar form of the Grim Reaper. He then dons the cloak and the hoodie, taking over his duties with a kind of careless malice (Channel 4, Sunday; previously shown on Sky One).