A new ITV show is promising to help people take control of all the TV programmes they have recorded in the first week of the New Year about decluttering their life.
Hosted by Dr David McBride, author of 'Feng Shui for your TV', the new series focuses on 6 families whose lives - and the hard drives of their Virgin Media boxes - have been taken over by 'Sort out your life' style documentaries.
Episode 1 focuses on the Smiths from Billericay, who have recorded over 100 hours of these programmes since New Years Day, with little to no prospect of ever watching them.
'It's like a drug ', said an emotional Peter Smith, sitting wistfully on his sofa. 'It starts off innocently enough with a Christmas and New Year TV listings magazine, with us circling the odd episode to watch here and there. But then suddenly you find yourself recording old repeats of Hot Mess House on Discovery that you've already seen 10 times and you realise you're out of control.'
McBride forces each family to watch the opening teaser segment of every one of the shows they have recorded, before deciding which they really want to keep, and which they can permanently delete.
'I feel an overwhelming sense of relief', said Peter Smith at the end of the first episode, hugging his family, as a camera pans in on his HDTV screen to reveal 75% free space available for recording. 'Free from clutter, and, more importantly, from the constant narrator-style nagging I can hear in the background about decluttering my life, inevitably accompanied by some sad music'.
'The sense of relief for Peter and his family is almost overwhelming' confirms narrator Stacey Solomon as she leaves the Smith house. 'He's free from clutter, and - for the moment - from the the almost constant narrator-style nagging about decluttering his life, inevitably accompanied by some sad music. Be sure to join us this time next year when we return to see whether the Smiths have stuck to their task, or whether they've set a Series Link to record all our update programmes.'
