Antiques Roadshow

To call this perennial favourite Britain’s best variety show is to sell it short. With a different line-up every week, there’s no telling what fascinating object might next come under the Roadshow’s collective microscope.
A key to the programme’s appeal is that it’s as much about celebrating people as the relics they proffer. Whether it be the recounting of a juicy family saga, the life story of a manufacturer, or simply an individual detailling their love of porcelain badgers on national television, there is much here to edify us about human nature.
Each episode is staged in a different grand location, and at each of these we witness the full gamut of archetypes – the misers, the collectors, the pompous, the ignorant, the shy, and above all the eccentric. Brief yet thorough discussion of aesthetics, history, and money all make for educational and entertaining viewing – and who hasn’t enjoyed the goggle-eyed excitement or appalled silence that greets an unexpected valuation?
It’s not just the civilians that entertain: the stable of experts too represents a cross-section of society. Any show with a specialist called ‘Bunny’ gets my vote.
A somewhat controversial replacement for comfy-knit presenter Michael Aspel was the perpetually excited Fiona Bruce (or simply ‘The Bruce’, as she is known in my house). Love her or loathe her, she provides yet another talking point for the show - though to be fair, the latest season of Game of Thrones probably gets more airtime at the nation’s water coolers. More’s the pity.