The Price Is Right (ITV1); The Man Behind The Da Vinci Code: Revealed (five): 'YOU'RE a big 'un, John," observed Joe Pasquale, addressing a contestant on the show that ITV1 is using to try to lure back viewers who've deserted to C4 along with Paul O'Grady at 5pm on weekday afternoons.
Size isn't everything and big contestants don't make big ratings. As far as I'm concerned, The Price Is Right but The Show Is Wrong.
The familiar "come on down" show is a shadow of its former self, mainly because it's been cut down from an hour to 30 minutes. This leaves Joe Pasquale little time to impose himself on the proceedings. He's lucky if he gets to make a couple of jokes.
"It's Britain's brightest game show," says the announcer. But not, he might add, with Britain's brightest contestants as they're required to do no more than guess the prices of some naff items in order to win even naffer prizes.
These rewards included a pendant and earring set "as beautiful as it is individual" and a leopard print chair fit only for the top of the bonfire on Guy Fawkes' night.
I fear the lure of The Price Is Right won't be enough to win back viewers. Equally disappointing was The Man Behind The Da Vinci Code, one of a plethora of programmes appearing to coincide with the film version's release next week.
Surprisingly, the man of the title wasn't Dan Brown, the American author of the bestselling book, but British writer Henry Lincoln. He was one of the authors of The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail, a book that featured in a recent High Court copyright case and resulted from research by Lincoln and others into stories about the sacred bloodline of Christ.
Lincoln's attitude to his discoveries are simple enough. "I don't ask you to pat me on the back but look at what I have done and prove me wrong," he said.
The story he had to tell was an intriguing one of messages hidden in Latin text, the search for the Holy Grail, Knights Templar and a painting by Poussin.
A few experts popped in to dispute his theories but mostly he was given free rein to expound his theories. These involved a lot of joining points on maps to make five-pointed stars. Take three castles, draw a few lines and, abracadabra, there's a pentagonal triangle.
Some people got terribly excited by his conclusions. "That's extraordinary, that's amazing" and "I couldn't believe my eyes" they exclaimed at each fresh revelation.
Published: 11/05/2006
