So bad, it’s good

GUILTY pleasures. We all have them. Those television programmes that we know we shouldn’t watch, as they’re unlikely to score us any credibility with our friends, but that we still tune in to anyway because we love them so much. When you think about it, there are too many of them to count.

Thankfully, comedian David Walliams has decided guilty pleasures are no longer something to be embarrassed about and is celebrating a classic collection of cringeworthy film and television moments.

The show is split into three parts, of which the first, tonight, will see Walliams guiding viewers through a selection of clips from some of the best “so bad they’re good” programmes ever seen. We’re talking about things that are so badly conceived or executed that they actually make for quite entertaining viewing, if only for all the wrong reasons.

The first includes such gems such as Keanu Reeves’s appearance in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, directed by Francis Ford Coppola – a performance so wooden he could have been used instead of a stake to drive through the heart of the vampire.

And don’t even get us started on Reeves’s dodgy English accent. But the film went on to win three Oscars, so someone must have liked it.

Other film highlights to anticipate include a look back at the moment in Jaws The Revenge when the shark lets out a loud roar. Yes, a roar, like you’d expect to hear from a lion.

But it’s not just films that have their moments of slightly unexpected glory. Adverts are often prime examples, with apparently low production values helping transform them into cult viewing.

Forgotten ads to look out for tonight include a commercial for flatulence-deodorising underpants.

Yes, you read that correctly.

IT’S tough being a teenager. Always has been, always will be.

But it seems we don’t know the half of it. The Tonight three-part special, Kids Under Pressure – Too Much Too Young, reports on the lives of Britain’s children, the pressures they face and their remarkable stories.

In the first programe, Julie Etchingham reveals the results of a poll run by the mumsnet website revealing the concerns of parents about raising children in the 21st Century.

She looks behind the statistics that show a dramatic rise in the level of childhood depression over a generation and meets a young woman who’s battled with the illness through her teenage years and hears from her mother about what it was like to support her daughter through such difficult times.

FORMER Tonight presenter Sir Trevor McDonald has a far more pleasant assignment in The Secret Mediterranean. He’s off to explore the countries that make up the Med, their individual cultures and traditions, and looks beyond the beaches of holiday brochures to discover the truly secret Mediterranean.

The series aims to give viewers access to hidden or forgotten wonders from across the region, from the south of France, to the Greek islands and into the north of Africa, as Sir Trevor visits cities both ancient and modern, explores architectural and natural wonders and meets the people who live very different lives.

In the tourist hotspot of Venice, he explores the city’s backwaters with one of the only two female gondoliers and looks at how Venice’s infrastructure can hamper modern living.

While in Istanbul, he discovers how the city’s ancient past has halted in its tracks a desperately-needed solution to its transport problems.

IN nature, animals that look so cute you want to cuddle them turn out, in fact, to be ruthless killers. Think lions, tigers and, to some extent, hippos. Bears are another example. They might look lovely, but you probably wouldn’t want to get too close if you knew what was good for you. Wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan, however, appears untroubled by the prospect.

His films have already seen him getting up close with big cats and other scary creatures, and his current mission sees him spending time with a group of black bears.

Tonight’s second (of three) instalments of The Bear Family and Me sees him returning to Minnesota to catch up with his furry friends. But he’s heartbroken to discover that tiny cub, Hope, has been abandoned by her mother.

IT’S possible to look at the TV listings and briefly wonder whether you’ve gone back in time. So many programmes have been resurrected recently that anybody with memory loss must find themselves frequently baffled as to whether it’s a Tuesday in 2011 – or in another decade of the past 50 years.

Of all the shows that have been brought back to life, 90210 is among the most popular, with glamour, money and beautiful people proving a recipe for success.

As the third series opens, Naomi, Ivy and Liam go on a hike to ease any awkwardness between Naomi and Liam, but Naomi flips when she learns Ivy’s real motives.

Meanwhile, Jasper tries to blackmail Annie about the hit-and-run.

While Adrianna and Gia (played by Rumer Willis, daughter of Bruce and Demi Moore) continue to bond, Ryan meets a free-spirited girl at a bar.