Last night we saw the wonderful one-off of Charlie Brooker’s Gameswipe (BBC Four, Tuesday, 29 September, 10pm), part of BBC Four’s ‘Electric Dreams’ season. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know why this show hadn’t happened before. I mean, Brooker has a cult following and used to write for a gaming magazine. The two were a sure-fire winner right? There’s also an appalling lack of gaming shows on the TV. Could this kickstart a resurgence?

Related: Our Charlie Brooker Interview

Like Newswipe and Screenwipe, Brooker took his unashamed nerdiness to an entire world and spat at it. Like the helpless fanboy I am, I gobbled it all up needily, giggling and grateful (if you read that literally, that’s possibly the most disgusting image I’ve ever given you).

He covered pretty much the entire history of computer games in a BBC hour, which is quite a feat in itself. Looking at gaming on TV (with Gamesmaster being the most famous of the crop) and the different types of games (RPGs, Shoot ‘Em Ups, etc) and the media response to the gaming world, Brooker covered lots of bases.

The only drawback was that you felt Brooker had a lot more to say about the world of computer games than the hour allowed for… and to be quite honest, I could’ve watched him rattle on for another hour.

You see, what Brooker nearly did, amongst the wonderful nostalgia and fuzzy graphics, was to begin to readdress the balance. As he pointed out, you only ever hear of computer games wrecking our weak-minded children’s lives and how GTA teaches us all how to go on murderous sprees and paid-for-sex.

That, of course, is a complete nonsense and Brooker compiled news clips and his own VTs to completely debunk the myth that games are teaching us bad habits. They said the same about TV once… they’re saying about the internet right now.

Aside from the serious(ish) stuff, it was great just to see Brooker talking about games that have been forgotten and for a gaming geek like me, it was wonderful to see the segment from the Consolvania crew talking about the wild array of utterly mental games you could get on the ZX Spectrum.

Dara O’Briain meanwhile, nearly stole the show with his rant about games and how he hates the fact that end-of-level baddies deny him media that he’s paid for. I’d be more than happy to see a show about gaming headed up by O’Briain and Brooker. Of course, TV wouldn’t allow it without getting some attractive woman to sit between them, in which case, Gia Milinovich is a sure-fire contender for this show I’m already inventing in my head.

From the opening strains of a 2-bit ‘AM 180′ (the theme from Screenwipe) to the closing review of The Beatles: Rock Band game, the show was a great success that really, we should see more of. Gameswipe would make a great grown-up series and should happen… mainly because I want to see Brooker make a documentary on Matthew Smith, the mad genius who made Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy.

A can of worms has been opened with this show. Let’s have more please!