Saturday: I watched the Mountain program again with Griff Rhys-Jones. He has a slightly annoying habit of trailing his sentences off into a whisper, so to hear what was going I had to keep turning up the volume. I was impressed that he climbed a sheer rock face, but still if you had something else to do on a Saturday evening (and by that I mean anything), your time would be better spent. Sadly, I did not, emphasised by the fact that I then followed it up with Iron Chef.

Tuesday: Father Ted didn’t disappoint, although it was a toss up whether to watch the return of Ugly Betty. I’m pretty sure I made the right decision. The bishops’ visit was a delight. Best line (perhaps slightly misquoted because my memory is shot this evening) “That’s what so great about Catholicism. It’s so vague and no-one really understands what it’s about”.

Hamish Macbeth: Alright, Hamish enough with the moping and the guilts. I don’t like this episode, with the artifice of Hamish running into the lady on the beach who can’t move because she’s standing on a landmine. Let’s just get on with our lives shall we? The comic storyline was a nice one though with TV John leading Macbeth’s replacement up the garden path. I particularly enjoyed the McLopez’s request for paella (you need to have watched it to appreciate this).

Wednesday: Long Way Down with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. I haven’t watched Long Way Round but I did expect that maybe they’d be on the road before the end of the first hour. We spent an immense amount of time watching the background preparation and logistics being sorted out. Not really the most fascinating television, although when Ewan broke his leg that was a little bit of drama. They have an easy and entertaining rapport, so in the absence of any more Wednesday night Andre Rieu marathons I guess I might watch episode two next week.

Thursday: The Amazing Race
OK, so the Kazakhstan challenges weren’t really the most interesting. I think they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel when one of the choices is dressing in a cow costume and searching for the meat market. Still I was glad to see the back of Terence and Sarah. Poor Terence trying to choke down the meat during the fast forward. Nick and Starr win again. Ho hum.

Friday: Miss Congeniality

I went to bed before the end. Enough said really.

All in all, the television week didn’t really cover itself in glory I have to say. But sometimes there are some hidden gems amongst the summer programming. Here’s hoping.