Thanks to ‘Catch Up’, I’ve been laughing my Christmas socks off at the funniest TV series the festive season provided.
Called (a hilarious joke in itself!) ‘Celebrity Mastermind’ had no actual celebrities taking part and, from the low scores many contestants ‘achieved’ in their General Knowledge round, there was a noticeable shortage of anyone who could be remotely described as a ‘Mastermind’.
I do hope Magnus Magnusson wasn’t watching from on high!
One contestant in each show was a comedian.
Although I recognised a couple, even they would agree that for them to be described as ‘Celebrities’ would be stretching the meaning of the word so far it’d be dangerously close to snapping in two.
To reduce the chances of any ‘celeb’ scoring zero points and looking foolish, most General Knowledge questions were breathtakingly simple.
Like, what number do you get if you invert the number 6?
Or what sort of chair made of wood and canvas would you find on a beach or the deck of a ship?
I know. It’s comedy gold, right?
One contestant’s ‘Specialist Subject’ was the film Gladiator and )not having seen it for a while) I later found it on ‘Catch up’ and re-watched Sir Ridley Scott’s multi-award-winning epic.
I’d forgotten many incidents in the film, which surprised me as I thought it was only 10 or 11 years old. As the end credits rolled, I was staggered to discover it was made in 2000!
Where has that quarter of a century gone?
At the time, nobody commented on Russell Crowe’s New Zealand accent, despite his character being referred to as ‘The Spaniard’, because his performance was so memorable.
But I recall that during a Radio 4 interview promoting his 2010 film Robin Hood,  a well-known BBC journalist was so incredibly rude to Russell about his ‘Nottinghamshire’ accent that the actor understandably curtailed the interview.
Wouldn’t it have been great if he’d said . . .
“My name is Russellus Crowus,
Commander of many accents.
Winner of a Best Actor Oscar.
And I shall have my revenge . . . in this life.
That’s my last ever interview with the BBC, mate!”