Last night: This is Your Life/Have I Got News For You

By Remote Control on Jun 3, 07 09:39 AM

THIS IS YOUR LIFE came back to haunt us in a 21st-century guise last night, and it turned out to be quite a mixed bag.

On the face of it, Sir Trevor McDonald is the ideal host for such a programme, but in truth, as he led Simon Cowell through the red book, I couldn't help but think that such a grand old veteran of TV news deserved something a bit better.

Extended to cover an hour of prime-time, it also struck me that this programme was drawn up with a sell-on to the American market as its target.

The ad breaks came thick and fast, the stars known to the American market got strong billing - bizarrely, Sir Trev spent more time talking to Piers Morgan (judge on Cowell's incredibly successful 'America's Got Talent') than he did with Simon Cowell's mum.

The set was also a bit random - the black sofas appearing to be from a range Ikea disposed of about a decade ago.

But all that to one side, and it did make for quite good telly. It wasn't some Michael Parkinson-style gloss over. There were obviously bits Cowell didn't feel too comfortable talking about - like the fact his father died on the day one of his acts got to number 1.

And whereas the days of Michael Aspel's This Is Your Life limited surprising details about stars to where they went to school, Sir Trev's version painted the full picture of his subject.

Who'd have thought the self-styled Mr Nasty of pop would do such hard work for children's hospices? Did you know that Cowell made a point of making sure children's hospices up and down the land got tickets to recordings of the X-Factor?

No, neither did I - and it is to Cowell's credit that it came out in a programme like this, rather than as some gushing, PR-led spread in a national newspaper. In fact, he looked quite uncomfortable with that segment. But then again, who would feel relaxed when Max Clifford arrives on stage to sing your praises?

Overall, a tired format appears to have been given new life - and hopefully there will be more in the pipeline.

Have I Got News For You is also an old format, but is still full of vitality. It was the last in the series last night, and Moira Stewart presented. She was excellent and the rapport between the guests was so good that I've already Sky-plussed the extended version, on tonight at 11.30pm.

We'll talk about that tomorrow!