Ads to make you change channel

Depending on which channel is your favourite, many adverts seem longer than the programmes.

This seems the case with some of the all-too-many satellite channels where ads appear to take over or jar with the main feature.

One of the main culprits is the coarse and crude ad booking.com which thinks it is cleverer than it really is, as viewers would rather watch the enduring delights of The Vicar of Dibley.

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This isn’t on its own as everyone has their own annoying favourite, which may be among the current switch-offs:

All those Top-Gear-type car ads where the all-essential “mirror, signal, manoeuvre” basics are replaced by a car-full laughing their way through town at high speed oblivious to other road users; Those frenetic family breakfast scenes where a proper start to the day, plus “please” and “thank you,” seem a forgotten way of life; Cheap train fare sites where the chance of bagging a bargain ticket seem as rare as a steam train heading over the viaduct through Mansfield Station; Supermarket shopping where you think you are the only person going up and down the aisles, except those real times when you encounter a gap-toothed pensioner whistling the theme tune to Peak Practice while jangling a pocketful of small change.

n Family trips to a pizza parlour where the immediate service, and just-as-quick delivery of a deep pan pizza, don’t seem to connect with the reality of fellow diner who would be confused by the addition of a knife and fork on their plate.

Commercial break over, it’s time to check out what’s worth watching over the next week.

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There’s plenty to tax the brain - whether it’s youngsters going through mental gymnastics that astound or annoy in Child Genius (Channel 4, Tuesday) or for those older in Hive Minds (BBC4, Tuesday), although this Fiona Bruce-hosted buzz about words seemed to sideline the viewers at the expense of the button-pushing contestants with overtones of Mitchell & Webb’s Numberwang spoof.

Another takeoff, but going in a different direction, is the return of People Just Do Nothing (BBC3, Wednesday) as viewers tune into the fictional pirate radio station Kurupt FM playing old-school garage to its London listeners. All the usual suspects are back in this cult series, which started out on YouTube in 2010, including station head Grindah (Allan Mustafa) and Asian ‘Del Boy’ Chabuddy G (Asim Chaudhry).

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