You can only imagine the hours of hand-wringing at ITV HQ when the latest episode of Bradley Walsh & Son: Breaking Dad arrived for approval.
I’m afraid it was a real suck-some-air-through-your-teether.
Some rude bloke called Franci had taken one look at Bradley bursting out of a ski-jumping costume and declared “You are too fat to be a ski-jumper.”
On a corporate level, what kind of message would it send out if ITV was to allow one of its best-loved entertainers to be fat-shamed at prime time?
Luckily, Bradley is where he is today because he knows two things. One, his audience. And two, what is funny.
Having a laugh is what this show does best. Which is why it is one of ITV’s biggest successes.
Normally, the only viewer complaint is that it’s far too short – and I would agree. Minus the ad breaks, each episode is a measly 22 minutes. We could all do with at least an hour of Bradley and Barney’s life-affirming road trips right now.
I realise such praise can only increase the prospect of them releasing a father and son crooning album by Christmas.
I also appreciate that a certain amount of the father/son bonding stuff is done for the cameras, but, like I said, Bradley knows his audience.
This week they were in Slovenia, birthplace of Melania Trump, where Bradley and Barney visited another iconic Slovenian wonder: Lake Bled.
There they threw stones on to a wishing rock. Legend has it if your coin stays on the rock your wish comes true.
There was no word on whether Melania chucked a coin or two before marrying Donald. Or whether she plans to return soon with more coins and a new wish.
As for Franci the fattist, by the end of the show he had at least toned it down a little. As Bradley deduced his ski-jumping days were behind him, he asked “Am I too old to be a ski-jumper?”
“You’re not too old,” Franci replied. “You are just too big.” Lovely work, Franci. Next time try “big-boned” and we can say we’ve cracked it.
