I think it was Charlie Brooker who first pointed out in Screen Burn (coming to BBC4 this Thursday as Screen Wipe) who first pointed out how expository programme titles are now.
Thus tonight, we have a collission of “Reals” with The Real Dad’s Army on C4 up directly against The Real Rain Man on Five. Of course, you won’t be watching either of this will you? You’ll be watching the final episode of Life on Mars to see how they wrap it up, considering that a second series has been commissioned. The obvious outcome is that he’s in a coma, but is that too obvious? And if all is revealed tonight, where does that leave series 2?
Incidentally, it wasn’t all that long ago that C4 ran another documentary on the Home Guard as part of its Secret History strand, was it? Still, you can’t have enough WWII documentaries can you? I mean, where would that leave UK History or the History Channel if they dried up?