There was a time when Saturday night TV was bathed in a golden light. Audiences in their tens of millions watched programmes that displayed variety in both senses of the word. There were the shiny floor shows such as Opportunity Knocks and The Generation Game, knockabout fun which felt somehow inclusive and oddly glamorous; comedy gold such as The Two Ronnies and dramas such as The Duchess of Duke Street and The Onedin Line, soapy period sagas which unfurled over capacious three-month runs.

I don’t think this is nostalgia (although it’s odd now to think that viewers were hooked by The Onedin Line, which followed the fortunes of a 19th century family of shipping magnates). The Saturday night TV line-up was skilfully varied and populist without being tacky.

But over the past 25 years, we have seen a diminishing quality in the overall package, and this has truly reached a nadir with the BBC’s...