Will we see a more chiselled PBH?
AFTER his gut-busting efforts in the previous series, I’m half surprised that Philip Boucher-Hayes’s new show isn’t simply called ‘Why Are You Eating?’
After all, that first run of programmes had enough gross and icky bits to make even the most enthusiastic grub gobbler a fussy eater.
The reason why that first season was such a success was because, in among the gross bits, were some genuinely interesting factoids about the state of the food we consume and while it had an unfortunate habit of veering towards finger-wagging, it was never less than interesting.
And let’s be honest, when it comes to much of the national broadcaster’s programming output, ‘interesting’ is about as much as we can expect.
In this first episode of the new run, the host finally answers the question that all the nation has been asking – what would yer man from CrimeCall look like if he had abs like a washboard and perfectly chiselled features?
It’s a weighty challenge for any man to undergo on television, let alone a high profile broadcaster approaching middle age.
So does he become the David Beckham of Irish broadcasting, standing there in his smalls for all us to envy?
Or will he do what most Irish blokes do whenever they go on a big health kick – run frantically for a while, become obsessed with his diet before collapsing in a bored, vomiting mess and slinking off down the pub?
Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Perhaps the TV highlight of the week comes tomorrow night on the Beeb with a heavily touted new docudrama, The Attack: Terror In The UK.
Doom-laden docudramas are something that British television does exceedingly well – Blackout on Channel 4 in 2013 was a particularly chilling depiction of how quickly people go bonkers when the lights go out – and hopes are high for this speculative account of what might happen if another massive terror attack was to hit the UK’s shores.
I’m still not entirely sure why the producers made a point of noting that the programme was shot after Donald Trump’s so-called ‘Muslim ban’ was enacted (it’s not a Muslim ban because it applies to all people of all religions in the seven listed countries), given the premise centres around a disaffected young British Muslim man who ends up being radicalised while in jail.
That’s the nightmare scenario for all security services – prisons have proved to be as fertile a ground for extremism as even the most hardline mosques. The sad reality is that the next terrorist attack on a city like London is simply a question of when, not if.
This is one to watch through your fingers.