Too much information: What HDTV means for make-up

You'd think that being a TV make-up artist is a bit if a doddle, really, wouldn't you? A quick dusting-down of Lorraine Kelly's shiny forehead, a bit of cover-up on Noel Edmonds' rogue spot, then it's get the kettle on, hope for fuzzy reception and the job's done.

But as many make-up artists will testify, giving someone apparently flawless skin isn't so easy, and thanks to the advance of HDTV, the job is about to get a whole lot trickier. Fives times the clarity inevitably means five times the clarity of a presenter's headline-distracting blackheads. Naturally the industry is troubled.

Sandra Exelby, chairman of the National Association of Screen Make-up Artists and hairdressers told industry paper The Stage that this will mean retraining for many make-up artists, who'll need to learn a new raft of techniques. Exelby, keen to do her bit to prevent the onslaught of this concealer crisis, has magnanimously opened her own make-up school for newcomers and experienced artists wanting to retrain in techniques suitable for HDTV. You can bet courses won't be free.

However, Kit Hall, a freelance make-up artist I spoke to who has dusted down a fair few presenters in her time, including Ant and Dec for their Saturday Night Takeaway, isn't too impressed by the back-to-school diktats. "I'd be interested in a quick seminar, looking at two screens together so you can see the difference, but courses just seem like a way to make money, it's not like being training to a doctor, is it? You learn as you go," she told me. Homework aside, Hall reckons that HDTV will sort the make-up wheat from the chaff: "it will weed out those who aren't so good - you're meant to be working to the best of your ability to create flawless skin anyway."

But do we really all want to see artificially flawless faces in our living rooms? Isn't it heartwarming to see a few laughter lines on Ant and Dec? Isn't the hint of a dark circle under Paxman's eyes reassuring - an indication that he has been up late studying the Stern report? And Gail from Coronotion Street: her diet isn't great, she has a hard life, surely, the odd spot is entirely in character?

Personally, in fact, I'm rather hoping that make-up artists don't get too good at HDTV make-up too quickly. I feel I'm ready to see what Lorraine Kelly looks like at close quarters. Bring on the blackheads.