What do Mike Leigh and Steven Bartlett have in common? Very little, surely. I can’t see the octogenarian auteur behind Bafta-winning films like Secrets & Lies and Vera Drake kicking back after a long day’s shoot with a nourishing glass of Huel and a motivational episode of The Diary of a CEO podcast. Their incongruence is so overwhelming that there’s only one cultural force powerful enough to bring these two men together on the same sofa. And that cultural force is The One Show.
Since 2006, the 7pm weeknight slot on BBC One has belonged to the broadcaster’s premier something-for-everyone-and-no-one grab bag of a magazine show. The delirium-inducing theme tune – trumpet fanfares accompanied by someone shouting “ONE… ONE… ONE!” at increasing volume and pitch – heralds the start of a televisual rollercoaster, presided over by the perma-cheery Alex Jones, alongside whichever reliable BBC stalwart has been rostered in to be her presenting partner.
