The first series of this political thriller ended with one of the finest television moments ever created – and now it’s back. It’s so good it’s like watching several great shows all at once

In the bathroom of a plush function room, the US ambassador to the UK, Kate Wyler (Keri Russell), is struggling to take off her dress. She’s desperate to get out of this strappy orange cage so she can put on a jacket and jeans and get back to work. Eventually, unable to find a fastener among all the delicately interlocking loops at the back of her neck, she rips the thing in two, discards a couple of grand’s worth of fine fabric, changes, and stalks purposefully off.

This scene from the first episode of season two of The Diplomat is the sort of thing that used to happen all the time in the drama’s early days. It began with forthright problem-solver Kate, a US diplomat versed in war-zone management, rerouted against her will to become America’s representative in London, a role that usually carries little responsibility and is taken up by complacent types who enjoy saying and wearing the right thing.