20th November 2022

 I never liked the I’m a Celebrity TV show. It panders to everything I hate. Irrespective of who the ‘stars’ are - politician Matt Hancock, linked-to-royalty sportsman Mike Tindall, or ageing singer Boy George -  the result’s the same. Schadenfreude for the masses. I’m old enough to remember the early  Candid Camera series, where unsuspecting members of the public were conned into a situation only to be shown as stupid at the end. Others, like You’ve been Framed showed awful home videos of small crying children coming to grief whilst falling into water, or hurting themselves on a slide, whilst the canned audience laughter made me cringe. I have never, ever, been able to laugh at others’ misfortune.  Neither do I understand the current adulation of presenters Ant and Dec. To me, they’re just talentless people, earning tons of money for smirking at the camera. As Professor Sir Simon Wessely put it: “It’s the theatre of cruelty.”  Is this what mass entertainment has come to, armchair ‘knitters’ cackling, like Madame Guillotine, at the misfortune of others? And even light entertainment like Strictly is hosted by the untalented Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly, only there because of their looks. Where are today’s talented  presenters, like Bruce Forsyth or Roy Castle of old? I’m still looking…..