TV review: It's phoning home.... I avoided the football with The Sky At Night: ET And The BBC

Sir Patrick Moore, the late host of The Sky At Night

Finding something to review has been a nightmare over the past couple of weeks thanks to England’s exploits at Euro 2020.

Nearly everything broadcast has been draped with a St George’s Cross; I half-expected “It’s Coming Home” tattooed on to someone’s bum on Naked Attraction.

Anyway, we had plenty of naked eejitry with the BBC’s football pundit line-up at half time last week.

Those of us wanting to leave planet earth to escape football tuned into The Sky At Night: ET And The BBC, which was a look at how the classic TV show has addressed the hunt for little green men.

At the centre was of course Sir Patrick Moore, the crotchety astronomer who presented the show for more than 50 years.

Moore, an ardent UKIP supporter, affixed various guests with his famous monocle and mostly scoffed at them. Aliens, illegal aliens; it didn’t matter to him. They didn’t seem particularly welcome either on Mars or his august programme.

This was a comical meander through The Sky At Night’s history with extraterrestrials and, frankly, catnip if you want to see posh BBC presenters grapple with breathless suggestions we’re going to be invaded by Tripods.

It seemed Moore and The Sky At Night’s boffins grumpily tolerated these fanciful ambitions. Scotland fans know the feeling.

The Sky At Night: ET And The BBC, iPlayer