JUST how much daytime television can a sane person take?

As the argument for abandoning afternoon programmes grows in the wake of cuts, a couple of hours in its company proves the point.

You can only take so much of families airing their problems to the nation, people doing up houses and a man finding a barometer in the attic and later flogging it for £2 at auction.

“I think it belonged to my auntie Jean, who was fascinated by the weather, but it’s been in my possession for decades. I must have put it behind that rubbish Picasso painting and forgotten about it. I’ll put the £2 towards a new carriage clock for my grandson, I think.”

Then, out of nowhere comes Justice. A bit like Jimmy McGovern’s Moving On, this was dumped in an afternoon slot to ensure low viewing figures and prove the point that no one wants to watch high-quality drama in an afternoon.

To be fair, this was a bit of a slow starter, but soon warmed up and followed the blueprint of gritty drama: drugs, prostitution, a judge with an ‘iffy’ past and, of course, it was set in Liverpool.

The acting’s fine, the writing’s pretty decent, so is it a good move to bung this on mid-afternoon?

In one way, it will obviously cost a few thousand audience-wise, but in another it should hopefully have introduced Jeremy Kyle watchers to some decent drama and they may then choose to ditch their regular viewing of Look At The Size of Of My Marrow with any slightly effeminate ‘celebrity’ we can persuade to present this and start a campaign to bring quality drama back to the BBC.

Then again, they might not.