Michael Day

Even the BBC's hit series The Celebrity Traitors is not immune from the mental health contagion engulfing these shores. On Thursday night, James Acaster, one of the participants and a comedian by trade (if not by nature, judging by his soporific performance throughout the series), crumpled in front of the cameras. The pressure of having to tell lies as part of the reality show that he'd signed up to was too much for him. In addition to spoiling the climax of this series, the Acaster incident reminds us that whereas we were once terrified of discussing our feelings, we now can’t resist it He’d already trousered a reported £40,000 for the gig. Despite this, Acaster wasn’t happy that he’d been recruited as one of the game’s bad guys or ‘Traitors’.

Everyone’s moaning about political bias at the BBC. They have done for years. And they’ll continue to. The right’s accusations that the BBC is anti-Trump and anti-Israeli are mirrored by the left’s accusations that the BBC is pro-Israel and reluctant to criticise Brexit. This indicates the difficulty of the broadcaster’s role, and suggests it’s probably doing something right. The bigger issue with the BBC is that it is dumbing down its output, a process that it’s half confessed to with its vow to make ‘lighter’ content for ‘C2DE’ audiences, whatever they are. If you want an example of this condescension, look no further than the BBC’s latest blockbuster series, Civilisations: Rise and Fall, which began on Monday night with the Sack of Rome.