I’ve always found Imagine… to be one of the most frustrating arts shows. Presenter Alan Yentob has a horrible habit of placing himself between the nominal subject of each film and the audience, as if he’s desperate for us to notice how good he is as a presenter — when, if he’s doing his job properly, he should be encouraging us to look not at him, but at something or someone else entirely.
Which is why it’s so nice to see him acknowledge that, in this BBC-provided clip from tonight’s Buzzcocks… Imagine a Midly Amusing Panel Show (sorry, not available to either of our non-UK readers), he openly mocks himself, walking aimlessly in front of VT clips of Never Mind The Buzzcocks presenter Simon Amstell, as well as the show’s title sequence.
In fact, both Yentob and Amstell seem to be enjoying taking the p*ss out of themseleves, adding something really rather special to what would otherwise be a clip show of the best of Amstell’s first series as the show’s regular host. In itself, that would be worth watching, but the extra material makes it unmissable.
- Buzzcocks… Imagine a Mildly Amusing Panel Show is on tonight, BBC2 at 10pm.
