New TV but the classics are still best

RECENTLY my colleague Judy Finnigan wrote that she and Richard had acquired a smart TV and could get all those wonderful things that are unavailable on Freeview.

That set me thinking. While my husband and I are devoted to Foyle’s War, we had reached the point where we couldn’t bear to spend another evening on ITV3 waiting for the moment when one of us would remember that we’d already seen the episode in question. Ditto Lewis. Ditto Midsomer Murders. There’s never anything else we want to see apart from documentaries on BBC4 about rock ’n’ roll, Antiques Roadshow and of course Poldark.

“I’m going to buy a smart TV like Richard and Judy’s,” I announced. “I’ll leave it to you to set up,” said my spouse but surprisingly it was the work of a moment. And then I signed up for Netflix – like turning an eight-year-old loose in a sweet shop.

Netflix is booming with 50 per cent more subscribers than predicted by business analysts. I’m not surprised. And the smart TV is marvellous in many ways. I can now watch iPlayer without having to use my laptop and wait for the buffering to stop.

The first time we sat down to watch the new telly we were giddy with excitement. All those TV series we had never seen such as Breaking Bad and Narcos. After much scrolling and squabbling we settled on… The Return Of The Pink Panther.

Yeah, we’re so edgy.