Gladiators

You know everything's right in the world when Gladiators is back on TV again. Interest rate rises, the Taliban and Pakistani cricket problems all pale into insignificance when those bold men and women slap on their lycra.

I had fond memories of watching Gladiators with my family, but my husband's pointed out that I'm too old to have done that, so it must have be It's a Knockout, another quality show from that era. But curled up on the couch with the kids I did feel some sense of history repeating itself.

Watching it as more of an adult than last time, there were some interesting things about the show last Saturday. The first was that they all wore mouthguards, padding and safety harnesses. We couldn't remember the gladiators of old stopping to clip onto the safety line, or spitting out their mouthguard before they made some comment on the state of the game. And that was the other thing, the speaking. There were a few gladiators who could string a coherent sentence together, but some of them seemed more comfortable with saying just a few words without much concern for whether they made sense. My daughter also raised the question of why the girls needed to have their togs on when they didn't go swimming, which is a valid question.

I'm not sure how long the show will last, surely not too many competitors will put their hand up to humiliate themselves on national television, but I do know where I'll be this Sunday night. I can guarantee that I'll have at least one child wriggling around next to me, and I'll be loving every minute of that show!