‘BBC faces fresh deception rows,’ says the Guardian. How shocking. What’s been going on? Has Huw Edwards been fibbing on the ten o’clock news? Has Watchdog been scare-mongering? Has Crimewatch been making up photo-fit pictures of imaginary criminals.

Nope - none of those.

It turns out someone may (or may not) have edited some Flog It! footage in the wrong order, to make it look like a participant in this modern-day Antiques Roadshow bid in an auction in which she never participated. Big woosh.

Even if this happened, and it’s yet to be confirmed, although the woman in question’s husband apparently made a formal complaint, then I have no sympathy for parties involved. This is reality TV in the most basic, crass sense of the genre. It’s not Big Brother, but a reality gameshow, in which the prize money isn’t put up by the broadcaster, but people bidding in the auction.

And it isn’t a documentary, either, in the true sense of the word, so has the audience really been violated in any way? Not at all. If I was told up front that this was an accurate representation - a true fly-on-the-wall biography - of events that actually happened, and if those events actually mattered or had any bearing on my life then perhaps I would have been - should have been - outraged. But who cares? If this edit was inaccurate it probably only served to enhance the programme, in heightening the tension and excitement. It was done for the good of the audience, not to pull the wool over our eyes.

But it’s not just the BBC that’s indulging in programme-enhancing editing. Production firm Optomen has been criticised for making it appear that Gordon Ramsey managed to spear a fish before cooking it on an open fire, when in fact the sea-based spearing was done by a fish-spearing expert.

Did anyone really believe it could have been any different?

I’m sorry, but if you’re naive enough to believe that someone who has no experience of catching fish this way could step out into the ocean and hook themselves some hoki on their very first attempt then you’re too stupid to own a TV license.

TV shows are edited. For your own benefit. The sooner viewers realise that, and the sooner broadcasters stop beating themselves up for giving us a better viewing experience, the sooner they can get back to quality programmes like Dancing on Ice.

If not, they’re going to get to the point where they’re apologising for misrepresenting the live studio audience by putting laughter tracks on their comedy shows.

And besides, this reeks of double standards. I remember very clearly a statement in the front of The Da Vinci Code stating that ‘all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate’. That goes far further than this programmes ever did in purporting to portray some version of truth, yet the backlash has been more concerned with writing style and originality than veracity.

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