Secret Millionaire

Channel 4's The Secret Millionaire has a problem, or it will do soon. In future, anyone involved in running any kind of voluntary group will assume that a mysterious stranger, showing up out of nowhere, offering to help, is a secret millionaire: just like the landlord who suspects a new customer is the mystery shopper, they will change their behaviour accordingly. The dead giveaway, of course, will be the presence of a Channel 4 film crew, pretending to make a documentary about volunteering.

I don't want to be churlish about it all. The amounts given away generally represent a small fraction of the fortune, but I could say the same about my own, pitiful, giving. The most heartwarming programmes see the millionaire continuing their commitment in terms of time, as well as money. This is probably welcomed by the organisations involved as much as the cash, particularly when the involvement continues after the cameras have gone.

It is the cameras that make me uneasy. There is always some kind of Faustian element to such a show: the TV companies will pay for something, organise something, or provide research, in return for access. But surely someone who has built a multi-million pound IT empire from scratch doesn't need any help identifying worthwhile causes.

It is difficult to imagine the show continuing after this series, without any pretense of the 'secret' in the show's title becoming risible; I do hope that volunteering does become popular away from TV shows.

The Cup

It's easy to feel sympathy for Rick Gervaise and Stephen Merchant: everything they do in future will inevitably be compared to The Office; equally inevitably, everything will fall short of that high standard. At least though, they have the kudos of having created the show. Spare a thought for the creators of pretty much any other sitcom likely to emerge in the next few years: they will struggle to compete, without any of the glory of having done something great.

I enjoyed the first episode of BBC2's new comedy The Cup. It is a mockumentary portrayal of a kids' football team. Slightly predictably, the parents are far more competitive than the kids. The strongest moments by far featured cringemaking father, Terry McConnell's, attempts to make a name for his son. His misplaced ambition, and lack of self-awareness when addressing the camera, were both clever and funny; nevertheless, I couldn't help thinking that I've seen it all somewhere before.

I'll watch it all the way through, and no doubt enjoy it, but I am still waiting for the next groundbreaking sitcom.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00d51ll

New Favourite Music Shop

I have been there before, but today I visited Hobgoblin in Birmingham, and had a great time. The selection of traditional instruments is fantastic, as I already knew, but so is the customer service.

There was a woman in the store, who had got there ahead of me. She had no experience of playing a musical instrument, and wanted to know what instrument would be the easiest place to start. The man working in the shop couldn't have been more helpful. He discussed what kind of music she was interested in - Cajun, as it happened - and went through various instruments, demonstrating each one, and telling her about ease of use, price, and how easy it would be to move on to another instrument.

When it was my turn to be served, they didn't have the mandola strings I was after in stock. They have ordered them for me, and promised they would be dispatched from the warehouse today. All in all, a good trip.