Musk alienating himself

IT’SWIDELY accepted that Elon Musk is the richest human on Earth. But what if it turns out this isn’t where he’s from?What if he’s from another planet? That’s one of the possibilities suggested tonight in episode two of THE ELON MUSK SHOW (BBC2, 9pm), the documentary series that’s telling this extraordinary character’s story.

And guess who’s actually raising that as a possibility?

Yep, Elon himself, in a clip from 2018 where he’s interviewed by US podcaster Joe Rogan.

“You must understand there’s not a whole lot of human beings like you,” Rogan has just told him. “You know that, right? When I watch you doing all these things, I’m like, ‘How does this guy have all this time, and all this energy and all these ideas, and then people just let him do these things?’”

To which Elon replies: “Because I’m an alien...”

And clock the look on his face when he says it. Elsewhere, on a more human note, might I ask whether the people behind THE REPAIR SHOP (BBC1, 8pm) could make us the occasional tear-free special?

Not that I don’t love watching these craftspeople do what they do, and seeing the joy it brings to those who’ve entrusted them with their precious items, but now and again it would be nice to reach the closing titles without having been reduced to a blubbing wreck.

Items brought in tonight include a beautiful decorative bird cage that belonged to owner Suzanne’s late mother.

Inside it, looking a little shabby now, sit two ornamental birds that swivel on their perches, if a little creakily, when you turn the key on the base.

Sadly, what they don’t do any more is chirrup.

Suzanne would dearly love to hear them do that again.

It would bring back lovely memories of her mum. “I hardly have anything really to remember her by,” she sighs. “This is it. It makes my heart so sad to see it not working.”

See what I mean? It’s wonderful television, of course it is (because obviously you can guess the ending), but, goodness me, don’t they realise the toll this sort of thing takes on our emotions?

Could Jay and the gang not devote at least one episode to fixing things to which the owners are less sentimentally attached, just to give our tear ducts a break.

Honestly, I’d be happy to contribute. For example, I have an Asda toaster I bought not so long back that’s already stopped – oh, what’s the word I’m looking for? – toasting. Plus our dishwasher keeps stopping mid-cycle.

And the toilet seat’s bust once again.

Fix all those and I’d be hugely grateful. But there’d be no tears, I promise.

Well, not until they sent me the bill.