Not much cop

Among the many reasons I shall miss Simon Hoggart’s presence as my Spectator co-TV critic is that I used to rely on him to take the heat off me. Since landing this gig all those years ago, I’ve always felt something of an imposter owing to my extreme reluctance to sit down and watch any more TV than I absolutely, strictly have to watch. Simon, on the other hand, was so conscientious he’d often review three or four programmes in a week. If this were the second world war, I’d be the equivalent of some Cairo desk wallah, while Simon would be a Soviet punishment battalion.

But just because Simon’s gone doesn’t mean I’m going to change tack. The reason I’m resistant to watching TV is that so much of it is such a spectacular waste of life, as I was reminded yet again this week when I squandered nearly three hours of valuable life on Jed Mercurio’s police conspiracy drama series Line of Duty (BBC2, Tuesday).