Rocking up to help kids
EVERY so often, in an idle moment, there’s a game I like to play whereby changing just one letter of a TV programme’s title I give it an entirely different meaning. DIY SAS, Newsfight, Strictly Coma Dancing, that kind of thing.
It really is the most tremendous fun. You should try it, maybe as a family Christmas party game. Oh, fine, suit yourself. Anyway, there’s a programme tonight that I was thinking might inspire a variation on this theme. For this one you’d radically alter each title’s meaning by removing one complete word from it.
I’m talking, as you may already have guessed, about CHILDREN IN NEED ROCKS (BBC1, 8.30pm), the annual music-themed show that goes out on the eve of the BBC’s main marathon fundraiser.
Take away that second word from its name and you’re left not only with an indisputable fact but with a concept for a potentially magnificent spin-off series.
But that’s for another day, and no doubt for another brainstorming ideas meeting at Channel 4.
For now, let’s focus on tonight’s splendid charity extravaganza. Hosted by Fearne Cotton and Radio 1’s Clara Amfo (the latter, of course, being an anagram of Carla Foam, but don’t let’s get sidetracked again), the 90-minute spectacular features appearances from Sir Rod Stewart, Jess Glynne, Rita Ora, right, George Ezra, Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Olly Murs, All Saints and Tom Odell.
We’ll also hear reminders throughout the show of the many tremendous causes Children In Need helps support, bringing fresh hope to disadvantaged young people right across the UK.
The main live fundraiser is tomorrow night on BBC1, getting under way at 7.30pm. To donate, call 0345 733 2233.
Elsewhere tonight, there’s an intriguing new three-part documentary series, INSIDE THE FOREIGN OFFICE (BBC2, 9pm), filmed throughout a year of extraordinary turbulence and upheaval.
Filmmaker Michael Waldman was granted unprecedented behindthe-scenes access, the result of which provides a unique insight into the Whitehall institution’s function on the global diplomatic stage.
The story begins in June 2017, just four days after the General Election, as Permanent Secretary Sir Simon McDonald, its chief civil servant (a man who describes diplomacy as “the art of letting other people have your way”), introduces his staff to the newly appointed Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson. Boris approaches the podium and delivers an off-the-cuff motivational speech to the vast assembled throng, the people whose job it is to actually carry things out. He concludes by reminding them what he means by “global Britain”, that it’s about “solving problems and doing good by bringing our expertise to bear. “And let’s also have some fun while we’re doing it.” Meanwhile, in episode three of Mars mission drama THE FIRST (C4, 9pm), engineers have discovered a disturbing problem with the MAV. Your challenge between now and tonight is to guess what that stands for.