IT has been a slow week from a watching the television point of view.

Even the BAFTAs failed to create much spark on Sunday night.

Not sure if it was the venue or everyone becoming a bit fed up with all the political statements, but it all felt a bit flat to me.

Was no-one laughing at any of the, admittedly not hilarious, one-liners or was it lost in the cavernous surroundings of the Albert Hall ?

Everyone looked a bit bored - and in some cases they even looked somewhat surprised to find themselves at the rostrum, receiving an award.

Dev Patel hadn’t washed, or brushed his hair, nor had he planned any kind of acceptance speech and I couldn’t hear Casey Affleck, who won best actor, through his beard.

Surely if you have been nominated, you might at least prepare a few words you could remember off the cuff even amidst the excitement of your victory.

If you are an actor, remembering stuff is surely part of your skill-set.

All this faux modesty gets tiring. But I will forgive Dev because I had only recently myself blubbed through Lion, the film he won best-supporting actor for, in which he was nothing short of mesmerising.

I will confess, I actually turned it off as Mel Brooks was accepting his lifetime achievement award.

He had just thanked Prince Philip for giving him his award (it was William) and I couldn’t work out if this was a joke or purely wrong and I couldn’t bear to find out.

I should perhaps have turned over when Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci were joking about the fact he is married to her sister.  As I have said, I am alone in liking a televised awards ceremony in our house, and this year’s efforts did not do me any favours in convincing the rest of my family otherwise.

Usually there are some stand-out, heart-warming moments but this year all I can remember are the terrible jokes, questionable dresses and Stephen Fry pretending to have performed with the Cirque de Soleil cast.

Still, it was all a bit more cheerful than the Sheridan Smith drama about the kidnapping of Shannon Matthews.

Aside from the controversy over whether it should have been made at all, would there have been anyone planning to actually sit and watch its conclusion on Valentine’s Day ?