Dagenham's Finest

OK, so there I was, watching Dancing on Ice for no obvious reason other than the fact that it was on and other people in the room were watching it. I actually find the show funnier than X-Factor or any of the other trashy ITV weekend moneyspinners purely because of the announcer and his blatently made-up-on-the-spot names for the dancers' moves.

Excuses for watching bad telly aside, I was blown away by a particularly surreal moment during the show. Usually when a celeb has performed, they cut away to someone related to the celeb or ice skating in general for a few soundbites. For no immediately apparent reason, they cut to Stacey Solomon. Now, for those unfamiliar with Stacey, she's a rarity - a reality TV star that I really like, and not in an ironic way, I genuinely think she's wonderful... watch this video and you'll see why. Yes, she is always like that. I'm sure there was some reason they cut to Stacey (other than to make the show more interesting) but I couldn't really think of one. So there we were, watching some supposedly serious ice-dancing routines and suddenly we get an earful of Stacey for a few seconds before cutting back as if nothing happenned.

So this made me think. I'm always thinking of ways that TV can be improved in order to make it more interesting, from filming the weather in front of a live studio audience to sports commentary by the cast of Rainbow. Sometimes my dreams come true (thanks to the power of YouTube), but not often. However, inspired by this Sunday's moment of madness, I have a new idea. I think that every time the BBC or other news service can't find a suitable person to comment on a breaking news story, rather than do what they currently do and ask a self-professed expert who clearly has no idea, they should simply say "and for comment, here's Stacey Solomon". Stacey can then give one of her typically excited performances with regards to whatever's going on in the world. Imagine it... "A suspected suicide bomber has been arrested near Buckingham Palace, over to Stacey Solomon for her comments..." "Oh mah gawd, it's awful! There was this bloke yeah and he was gunna blow himself up... I was terrified!" TV would be 100 times better... I'd pay my license fee for that alone.