When TV’s Mr. Nice Guy, Alan Titchmarsh, unceremoniously booted the nasty John McCririck off his talk show (see here) – an icon was born. No longer was Alan just a celebrity gardener, but a leader in TV’s revolt against the revolting. Now he’s determined to end the trend for nastiness and swearing on our goggle boxes – be it from Simon Cowell or hot-headed chefs with a call to arms: “There comes a time when you have to stop caring about ratings: enough is enough. Most folk see standards as having slipped. I’m no Mary Whitehouse and hate to moralise but things need to get better. As my mum used to say: ‘If you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all’.

I salute Alan taking a stand on this issue, though suspect that a thousand such comments wouldn’t deter TV execs from the cheap and convenient fare of confrontational reality television. Maybe he needs to recruit other well-mannered industry folk (might I suggest Michael Palin, Victoria Wood and Stephen Fry – the public just love them!) and start using those pitchforks and secateurs to help make your point. Just a thought.

[via What’s On TV]