On the more trivial side of broadcasting news recently is the revelation that popular TV personalities Ant and Dec have rushed out and bought the rights to their old shows SM:TV Live and Byker Grove, apparently in a bid to stop digital TV channels buying the rights and showing their previous work without their permission. Or presumably, at all.
They're not the first celebrities to wish to control their past - at least one major TV star managed to block the showing of their early programmes when TV channels wanted to repeat them years later.
Of course such things are compounded by the mass TV viewing public's obsessions with programmes like Before They Were Famous, which brings us the dodgy scenes of Zoe Ball singing "The Grand Old Duke of York" on Playaway and Arnie doing that advert for sausages or whatever it was. But the past is always a part of our lives, and the story of our lives. Byker Grove introduced Ant and Dec to the world, and SM:TV Live helped re-invent them into the stars they are today. They form part of the story of their rise to fame. And they won't be forgotten.
Besides, there's far more embarrassing things on the internet already. As this video proves. Come on then - watch them wreck the mic, watch them wreck the mic, psych!
