The TV That Made Me, review: Good gracious me, it's a cheap daytime show that really works

BBC1's afternoon offering hosted by Brian Conley is a watchable blend of reminiscence, anecdotage and nostalgia

TV times: actress Nina Wadia is a guest on ‘The TV That Made Me’ (Rex)

The TV That Made Me, an afternoon offering on BBC1, is, let us face facts, cheap telly: living room style set, Brian Conley, volunteer audience with not much better to do, some cheesy old clips.

But, as I have often discovered in life, cheap is not necessarily bad. And, in fact, this pretty unpromising proposition is a surprisingly watchable blend of reminiscence, anecdotage and nostalgia.

Quite a lot of the charm came from guest Nina Wadia, who had her big break on Goodness Gracious Me and seemed genuinely surprised that it appealed to a white audience. She went on, as you may recall, to play Zainab in EastEnders, as naturally unhappy a personality as the real life Nina is cheerful and sunny. She is a fine actress, obviously. And her personal heritage and life in India, Hong Kong and Britain were nicely interwoven between her picks of her favourite or most influential television memories.

Brian Conley proved his worth as host (and presumably justified his fee) by getting just the right amount out of his subject and allowing her the space to speak for herself, an increasingly rare art when you think of the domineering outrageously camp leaders of the chatshow trade at the moment.

The format, a nice simple one, works well because it has some connection with all of us. Even if we never made it into top-rated innovative sitcoms or chart-topping soaps, many of us have similar family-round-the-TV-set recollections, from the golden age of communal television viewing.

Most of all, though, Nina Wadia chose her clips superbly well. Take, for example, her "Family Favourite". I'd not seen for years the roller-skate scene from Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em that reaped Michael Crawford award after award 40 years ago. Even though I too recall it from first time around, the skill and bravery that Crawford put into Frank Spencer's misadventures with the real world were just breathtaking and very, very funny. She is also refreshingly unprudish about her "Sneaky Peek" – The Benny Hill Show; and we were invited once again to ponder why such a brilliant comedian with such impeccable timing so easily and quickly fell out of favour, though I imagine he retains his cult status in America. Nina Wadia was curiously unforthcoming about Hill's overt sexism and racism, but, if she wasn't bothered by it, then I can't see why Conley or any of the rest of us need to argue with that.

The crew of the Regal Princess on deck in ITV's 'The Cruise' (ITV)

The TV That Made Me also gave me a warm feeling about all the dreadful shows that I managed to miss over the decades, usually supposed comedies infused with a middle-class smugness, and I felt a physical and mental revulsion when a still (and mercifully only a still) of Paul Nicholas in Just Good Friends popped up on the screen.

Her choice of theme tune to play out the show – The Dukes of Hazzard – even meant the end credits were unmissable. I really cannot think of the last time I could say that about a television programme. BBC Scotland commissioned this midget gem, and it was made by Raise the Roof Productions. They should move it to peak time.

At the risk of repeating myself, I guess an appropriate failing in someone writing about television, I looked in again on The Cruise and on the cabins, ballrooms and bridge of the Regal Princess to see if the Buddy Holly lookalike Timothy has moved any closer to his dream of showbiz. And, yes, he has been out in charge of some shore tours around Stockholm.