Meat Loaf

Anyone who knows Justin Lee Collins and the horror of his Bring Back... programmes will be relieved to know that this new mixture of chat and variety show is nowhere near as bad as it might have been. Filmed in front of a young audience of 300-odd people at the plush Rivoli Ballroom in south London, it is full of good humour and high spirits. "I wanted the show to feel like a circus," he says, "with me as the ringmaster." During the run of the series, he will play darts with Meat Loaf and Ewan McGregor, interview Gok Wan and Mathew Horne, compliment Sharon Osborne on her plastic surgery and organise an offbeat dance competition. The most pleasant surprise of all is that he doesn't scream and shout with artificial exuberance.