Finnigan and Madeley: Winning formula

The new format is attempting to be newsworthy and buzzy, with the first show featuring a couple who have done nicely out of a banking error - but have been seen everywhere else already.

Cue the ubiquitous phone - in on scruples, with the same motley selection of the great British public baring their souls.

With their big showbiz connections, Richard and Judy frankly could have done better than Les Dennis and his wife Amanda Holden to attract new audiences to their show.

Billed as their first interview together, it got all a bit squeamish as the state of their marriage was picked over following Holden's much-publicised affair.

It was a tantalising slice of confessional television, but was quite frankly not very interesting.

Richard and Judy are in the spotlight with a new gameshow where they have to guess the answers - shame they were saddled with a lady who said that a hamster is "something that keeps you warm".

But maybe the new programme's material is best pushed to one side. As with This Morning, it is the golden couple who are the centre of attention.

And so little has changed. Judy still appears to be almost eaten up with nerves under the live spotlight, but exudes natural warmth in the partnership.

Her husband, meanwhile, remains the antithesis of this. He is as over-confident as ever, a self-appointed expert on every subject under the sun and does his level best to be in the driving seat all the time.

The new show is very much a case of familiar faces in a slightly strange setting.

Yet, the first offering was surprisingly weak, and it remains to be seen whether viewers will be weaned off their regular teatime fare for bite-sized morsels of morning fluff.

Richard and Judy is on Channel 4, weekdays, at 1700.