Reality TV gets a bit too real

I wish I had recorded it. A couple of nights ago I was surfing the channels and came across a Sky News debate on the future of the BBC. You can always count on an unbiased view of the BBC from the Murdoch-owned media, and this show did not disappoint. At one stage the host smirked that the audience feedback was running "100% against the BBC" -- Rupert must have been working his fingers to the bone on the old speed-dialler. Then some talking head, whose name I missed, started talking about Channel 4. He said that one of the arguments for the continued existence of BBC 2 was that it compelled Channel 4 to live up to its own commitment to quality programming. Who knew? Anyway, he then said -- and this is what I wish I had taped -- that there was no need for this to continue, as Channel 4 was firmly committed to hiring the best people and commissioning high quality shows.

As, of course, we have all seen this week. If a case needed to be made for the continuation of properly-funded public broadcasting, Channel 4 has certainly done the job this week. Given the falling ratings for "reality" shows, it was probably inevitable that the race to the bottom would gather pace. However, the events on Celebrity Big Brother almost defy belief. The selection of the contestants is always aimed at producing conflict, which I suppose is fair enough, although personally I can't see the attraction in watching neanderthals grunt abuse at each other. But Channel 4, or its partner in crime, Endemol, edits the broadcast footage in order to get the kind of show that they want. (The US version of the show explicitly credits a "storyline consultant"!) So C4/Endemol could have kept the rantings of Jade and her regiment of monstrous women (apologies to John Knox) off the air, but chose to go ahead, no doubt in the belief that the ratings would gain.

Wonder of wonders, it looks as if C4/Endemol have badly misjudged the public mood. Carphone Warehouse has had enough of being associated with this stuff and has suspended its sponsorship of the programme. This may force Channel 4 to shape up. Remarkably, they have a mandate to produce programming of special interest to ethnic minorities, which they apparently interpret to mean white trash.

Hertfordshire plod are looking into the possibility of bringing charges. Even if they decide not to, who is going to want to hire Jade or any of her equally useless pals again? It's all up to the public: if people have any decency, any news editor who serialises Jade's "own story" here -- and you can bet the chequebooks are already out -- should be rewarded with a nice fat fall in circulation.

The big winner here can only be Shilpa Shetty, who hardly anyone in the UK had heard of before CBB began. She is likely to wind up as the winner of the last-ever CBB -- and her "own story" may actually be worth reading.