Peter Rhodes on lost drivers, slow lava and how to deal with the rats of Westminster
“At any given point, about 15 per cent of urban drivers are either lost or searching for a parking spot.” Road research findings, as revealed in the Sunday Times.
So, welcome back, Gladiators (BBC1), a programme in which fit, optimistic punters are monstered by iron-muscled professional athletes for the amusement of flabby couch potatoes. Thirty years ago I took the family to a recording of Gladiators and the action, even when it was delayed and endlessly re-run for the TV-making process, was electric. The exultation and dismay of 10,000 fans was entirely genuine, even if the pre-printed support banners (handed out on arrival) were not.
Ricky Gervais's new Netflix show, Armageddon, may not be his funniest but there are some clever moments, as when he re-writes an old joke for a modern, woke audience. In the original version, a patient says: “Doctor, I think I'm a pair of curtains” and the doctor replies: “Pull yourself together.” In the new version for these self-identifying times, the patient says: “Doctor, I think I'm a pair of curtains” and the doctor replies: “Then you are.”
