Apart from the odd film, I hardly watch the television these days but I do occasionally look through the listings just to remind myself of the vacuous crap that fills the schedules.

This evening, I had started counting the number of programs involving the police (mainly as it seemed as if every other program was police related) when I noticed the details given for the latest edition of Crimewatch.

Firstly, here is the relevant program listing given by TV Guide :

Kirsty Young, Rav Wilding and Matthew Amroliwala present appeals for witnesses and information regarding the unresolved cases of two burglars who tortured a grandfather, and a rapist who attacked a nurse in broad daylight

As the listing will probably disappear long before you click to look, I grabbed an image as well :

All in all, a fairly straightforward burglars and rapists double bill designed to get the chattering classes twitching their nets and checking their door chains.

Unfortunately, the paragraph below is typed directly as it appears in the Saturday 4th September edition of The Independent’s Information magazine :

9:00 Crimewatch Appeals for information on the unresolved cases of two burglars who tortured a grandfather and rapist who attacked a nurse.

I think you will agree that, the missing comma and indefinite article make for an altogether racier program.

Whether it is down to sloppy typing  or a mischievous sub-ed we will never know but I am sure it will do wonders for the ratings figures.