Raising Reith

Watching television as a critic is an artificial way of watching television. For the most part we see DVDs supplied by the television companies. We start and finish when we like. If the phone rings, we don’t groan and bark ‘yes?’ — we can press pause and settle down for a leisurely chat about our double-glazing needs. If we miss part of a programme, we can catch it again. We are a little like those restaurant reviewers who write: ‘Dinner for two, with a glass of champagne and a bottle of Volnay, came to a very reasonable £165,’ because they aren’t paying. We are privileged.

In the same way we rarely stumble across a programme merely because we’ve casually flicked on the box, live, on air. That is how I accidentally caught The Weakest Link Special on BBC1 (Saturday). It was the kind of shock from which the pampered critic is usually protected.