29 JULY 1995, Page 38

Television

Blobby to the rescue

Ian Hislop

Ihope at least we've made you think.' This is an increasingly rare ambition for television but Jeremy Paxman is confident enough to say it at the end of his discussion programme You Decide (BBC1, Tuesday, 11 p.m.). The evidence is that the show does make its viewers think because they change their minds after watching it. There is a poll before and after the discussion and the difference is marked. Last week, after coming out in favour of a British withdraw- al from Bosnia, the audience ended up sup- porting a continued presence there. This week, after an opening majority of 70 per cent condemning the National Lottery as a bad thing for Britain, they finished with an even 50/50 split on its merits.

The format is a bit American and there is some silly dramatic music at various points but overall it works well. The main argu- ments for and against the proposal are pre- sented by filmed inserts and are then tested against a live audience. This week it was wrong-people-get-the-money-it-wrecks- lives-it-creates-a-greedy-society-charities- lose-out on the one hand versus harmless-fun-it-raises-millions-charities- benefit-British-success-story on the other. There is also a panel of three people who support the initial majority view who are then periodically grilled by Paxman using points that interested parties in the studio have raised. In both the Bosnia and the

Lottery programmes the level of debate seemed to be greatly enhanced by the com- plete absence of politicians, and the Peo- ple's Panel this week consisted of a left- wing journalist, a clergyman and a cam- paigner against under-age gambling. They started well with the Reverend Hatton claiming that 'a private vice has become a public virtue', and Hilary Wainwright talk- ing of 'taxation without representation' and `exploiting the dreams of the poor'. Nearly everyone in the studio agreed that the award of £55 million to the Opera House was indefensible and at times it seemed that this single issue would swing the whole debate.

Two men from the Opera House tried to defend their windfall but their attempts were doomed. 'Not everyone is just inter- ested in Baywatch' said one, attempting to play the populist card, but he was sadly outmanoeuvred by Lenny Lottery from the Sun. Lenny proposed that each lottery tick- et should have little boxes on it where the purchaser could tick 'Charity', 'Sport', `Arts' or whatever good cause they wanted their money to go to. Guess how many punters would tick 'fat foreigners singing' rather than 'sick toddlers'?

But the debate also began to shift the other way. Paxman brought in some lottery winners who claimed, unsurprisingly, that their lives had not been wrecked at all. One man who had won £2.8 million talked earnestly about an island he was turning into a community leisure project. Another who had won £800,000 had invested the lot and was making sure that the money was working properly for him. There was a win- ner who had spent the lot but then he had only won £46,000. And was it all cham- pagne and women? Not exactly. He had paid off his mortgage and installed double- glazing.

There were some very good moments like this. A woman from Camelot described what a success her firm had made of run- ning the lottery and claimed that in this country 'we believe in rewarding success.' She said it with the sort of rising inflection that invites applause. There wasn't any. On the other hand there was quite a lot of applause for the tiresome John McCririck who was defending gambling and who came up with the memorable phrase `We're selfish and greedy. What's wrong with that?'

The vicar was vaguely trying to explain and the left-wing journalist was still going on about democracy when Paxman skilfully wound the whole thing up and announced the final 50/50 vote. On this basis the National Lottery seems likely to survive the current flak, but the programme did not take one important factor into account. The BBC has now decided to get Noel Edmonds and Mr Blobby to take over the televised Lottery Draw. This could prove decisive. Perhaps the Opera House could lend a few singers to help with a rousing chorus of `Blobby, Blobby, Blobby.'