The Speaker (BBC2, 8pm);Freaky Eaters (BBC3, 8pm); The Hospital (C4, 9pm)

ANOTHER reality show, but not to find a new Speaker of the House of Commons. This series is aiming to find the nation’s most eloquent and inspiring teenagers.

Comedian Jo Brand, performance expert and Rada tutor Jeremy Stockwell and ex-NBA basketball star and motivational speaker John Amaechi, are the trio travelling the country auditioning wouldbe speakers.

The competition, which is open to 14 to 18-year-olds, follows four regional auditions, where the 20 brightest and best will make it through to the next round.

Over eight episodes, the number will be whittled down until the remaining three candidates will take part in a final showdown.

All very X-Factorish.

The opener visits regional auditions in Glasgow and London, where the judges can only choose five potential winners from more than 150 hopefuls.

Brand reckons the key attributes for a good speaker are someone who’s articulate and puts a fair amount of humour into what they do. She would say that.

The lucky ones who reach the final stage will have a few famous faces on hand to offer help. Deborah Meaden, of Dragons’ Den fame, will be dispensing words of wisdom on ensuring the speakers get a goodly dollop of conviction in their orations, while Earl Spencer invites the finalists to Althorp House for a lesson on how to deliver information.

Alastair Campbell, formerly Tony Blair’s director of communications and speech writing, reveals the subtleties of persuasion.

Newsreader Kate Silverton coaches the youngsters in the art of storytelling. She tells the show’s website, “Storytelling is everything that my job is. As a journalist you are researching, going out on location and reporting back. Essentially, you are telling a story.

“A lot of the time when you’re first starting out, you’ll be thinking I have to tell everybody everything, otherwise I might have missed something. When you become more experienced, you can say, ‘It’s good for me to know because I can use this as background’. You have a gut feeling for what that story is really about. It’s quite difficult to teach that.

“But, I want my audience to care, if I think it’s an important story to tell, I want them to get that, so it’s my duty to convey that in a way that they believe me, and that’s essential,” she says.

TALKING of talking, The Hospital is a three-part series that is bound to do just that – get people talking – as it asks some fundamental questions about the next generation and what they expect from their health service.

Consultants, surgeons, nurses, midwives, and staff at every level speak with alarming candour about the problems they face from the youth of today.

Issues such as overweight young women expecting gastric band surgery and the realities of the binge-drinking culture come under the spotlight – and it’s not a pretty sight. The first episode is filmed in the accident and emergency wards of two Midlands hospitals. In a shocking scene, it reveals how seriously ill patients are now forced to compete with beaten-up boozers.

WHERE do they find the people to take part in Freaky Eaters, the strange series about quirky compulsive eaters? This week, it’s Richard Smart, a 28-year-old hairdresser from Norwich.

Smart by name but not by nature, it appears, his diet consists entirely of chicken, beef and lamb. When faced with any other form of food, he becomes panic stricken. His unusual eating habits are beginning to create a rift between himself and his partner.

Felix Economakis, Charlotte Watts and Pixie McKenna attempt to sort out his diet and, hopefully, save his relationship.