[Junk Box Nick]

Slightly at a tangent but when these drama/jeopardy type programmes came about there came a series where a task had to be achieved by a ridiculous deadline to save some probably imaginary day.

One of these touched on a project process that I was regularly involved on a professional basis. Suddenly my critical path charts for managing a project were dismissed with: “What!? Sorry, I saw this done on such-and-such a programme and it can be done in 48 hours.”

When us old sweats get together and see the standard of some of today’s stuff we often say: “And we used to fret and worry about x and y.”

As Steve Hertz says, these programmes are just for entertainment, and entertainment involves a lot of illusion, painted hardboard sets and dressing up. A man who had run a successful business for decades once said to me: “The aim of any business is to deliver the lowest quality possible that will be acceptable to the customer.” Initially that sounds outrageous but when you think about it it's true. The same goes for telly programmes. The problem with many of us on this forum is that we a probably a little more demanding than Joe and Joanne Public.