Well, it’s cheap... but not cheerful

It was handy that the first contestants on Noel Edmonds’ new daytime gameshow Cheap Cheap Cheap were policemen.

Because someone really needs locking up for this one.

Noel may think it’s highly amusing that he’s somehow managed to get away with a format that simply requires teams to guess which of three similar supermarket products is the cheapest – but I’m pretty sure he’s the only one laughing.

We must assume Channel 4 only donated the airtime for this show by way of apology for axing Deal Or No Deal.

The fact that it has been dumped at 3pm in the height of summer, before A Place In The Sun reruns, suggests that the network is banking on a brief illness followed by swift burial.

DATED

To be honest, I was surprised they’d even bothered making a promo trailer for it.

And I was even more surprised when the said promo boldly claimed, “It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before.”

That would only be true if you’d never seen The Price Is Right. Or Noel’s House Party. Or Supermarket Sweep. Or 3-2-1. Or Open All Hours. Or any of the hardware store sketches on The Two Ronnies.

Admittedly, no one has ever tried to put them all together in the same show.

Spend 10 minutes watching Cheap Cheap Cheap and you’ll soon realise there’s a good reason for that.

It’s an utterly dated, criminally unfunny mess.

If “Noel’s Store” isn’t having a closing down sale by the end of the run I’ll be A) Amazed and B) Popping in for a can of petrol .and a box of matches.