Get with the times Mickey

Mickey. The cookery programme has been done to death. If you flick through the Guardian guide you will notice there are exactly 45 cookery programmes on terrestrial TV this week and that is not including Hells Kitchen. You have Jamie, Nigella, James Martin, the fat bloke with the double barrelled name and even Andi Peters has his own show in which he experiments different duck recipes using his old sparring partner Ed's battered corpse.

Police programmes is what all the kids are watching these days. There are exactly 47 of them on this week. But I have distilled it down and you should only watch the Bill. That is the best one now the Shield has finished. I am catching up on last weeks episodes which I recorded when I was on holiday. It is just great entertainment and I like the way producers keep matching up odd couples to patrol the mean streets of Sun Hill. In CID, Phil Hunter and Stuart have some great banter going between them and appear to be trying to out gurn each other in every scene. It is a crying shame that Phil is leaving the Bill to join Eastenders, though I have no doubt he will be the best character in that since Martin Kemp. Anyway, back to the Bill - in uniform they have started pairing up new recruit Beth, who is the smallest policewoman in history (I thought there was a height minimum) and long standing old timers like Tony Stamp and Reg Hollis. There are some lovely one liners in each scene.

I a now fully up to speed with the Shield. For once I agree with Mickey. It is brilliant and I advise anyone who reads this tripe to take him up on his offer and borrow Series 1. You will be hooked. Series 6 has just finished and we now have to wait another 10 months before the final series. That is one long wait and I just thank the gods that I have Sun Hill to keep me company in the meantime.