Close your eyes and imagine a cross between Celebrity Fame Academy and Strictly Come Dancing. Failing that, conjure up the Dance of the Hours sequence in Fantasia – you know, the one with the dancing hippos, because that’s what this year’s fundraising shows are more likely to look like. The idea is that 18 celebrity acts (both groups and individuals) compete to re-create a different iconic dance routine each week. For the next month they’ll be twirling their way through movie classics such as Saturday Night Fever and pop classics such as Thriller, while the six finalists (as voted for by us and a panel of judges) will perform in a "spectacular" (does that mean they’ll be making an even bigger spectacle of themselves?) dance-off on Comic Relief weekend. It sounds terrific but, while we’d guess that this week’s turns Dick and Dom and Robert Webb are capable of the odd rhythmic move, we’re less sure about next week’s – Jo Brand and the Dragons’ Den lot. (Radio Times – Let’s Dance for Comic Relief)

I hate this modern breed of talent show. And I particularly hate celebrity versions of it – ex-celebrities who want to be famous again.

However, they’re all the rage nowadays. Such as the above latest version to hit our television screens tonight.

Perhaps it will be car crash TV, and thus watchable on my "Circle of Crappiness" rule. But, it’s almost certain to be an example of total humiliation. See previous examples.

What I don’t get however is how such things become acceptable because they’re for charity. People wouldn’t do it for any other reason – but to try and raise money it’s fine.

I’m not against such things in principle. Anything that encourages good charity is good. I would do some daft things if I raised enough money for charity in the process. But, surely there has to be a limit somewhere.  Such as Jo Brand.

I don’t think I’m the only one. And I think when absurdity is new and unusual, it can be quite funny – see the first ever Children in Need / BBC Newsreaders musical number. In recent years, they’ve just been crap though. But, Peter Jones as John Travolta – it’s an extension of an age old format, and surely just bad TV?