Warning: Second Bruce-centric posting in a row.

I’m here at work, snowed under with things I need to get done, when I discover I’ve got a copy of The Generation Game: Now and Then - which starts on UKTV Gold Thursday 22 November – tucked under a load of other stuff. Well, that’s it, I’m screwed, because I have to watch this. And from the off, my colleagues are interested too, keen to check out the reworked theme song which, I have to say, is ace. Bruce trilling away over an amped-up version of that familar theme. In short, they haven’t ruined it. (Shame about the boring ITV1-style logo and set, though).

And then the man himself takes to the stage. After the usual “Nice to see you” business, we get: “It’s so comforting to have an audience who can remember their lines. Let’s just hope I can remember mine! Well, it’s not easy when you’re 55″. Mocking laughter. “Oh, and a bit! And a bit!”

The clippage is admirably broad – there’s stuff in here from the ’90s run (when our host was experimenting disastrously with different hairpieces) as well as the classic ’70s stuff. And Brucie proves he’s still fantastic at being nicely insulting to members of the public (“35 years on and he still hasn’t got any better”, he quips about contestant Alan Ferguson, who reprises his attempted turn at ventriloquism). Plus Anthea Redfern provides some talking-head action (“I was just a hostess… Rosemary Ford was so talented”), before Ms Ford herself makes an appearance with Bruce (“Beauty and the Beast they used to call us,” he says, “which I always thought was a bit unfair on you”) for a spot of off-the-cuff hoofing and a turn on the potter’s wheel. 

And of course, there’s a conveyor-belt – a panini press, a luxury spa day for two, a drinks cooler fridge, a vacuum cleaner, a cuddly toy, an abdominal toning belt etc – which is inflicted on a contestant from the very first episode. From there, it’s time for the goodbyes, everyone stood in front of all the items won as is the law. 

“We’ll see you next time, be there!”. I can’t think of a nicer way to spend 30 minutes.