By Jonathan Ross

This year's ceremony will be a special event to mark 75 years of the awards

The Academy Awards prove compulsive viewing for millions - and Film 2003 presenter Jonathan Ross admits he is among their most ardent fans.

Ah, the Academy Awards.

Love them or loathe them - and let's face it, most of us are in the former camp - you just can't ignore them.

Seventy-five years on from relatively modest beginnings as a Hollywood dinner and dance with a five-minute award ceremony, the Oscars are bigger than ever - and not just in terms of the worldwide attention they command.

Last year's extravaganza featured everything from a Cirque du Soleil confection and songs by Sting and Paul McCartney, to a surprise stand-up routine from famous Oscar non-attendee Woody Allen.

Chicago is a front-runner for best picture

It weighed in at a whopping four hours and 20 minutes - a record even for an event that has been battling against the clock for decades.

True, a large wedge of last year's running time was taken up by a standing ovation for honorary award recipient Sidney Poitier.

It is unlikely the star slated for similar recognition this year - seven-time best actor nominee Peter O'Toole - will provoke quite the same upsurge of emotion as Poitier's arrival on the stage.

And this will be particularly true if O'Toole sticks to his decision to decline the honour at this stage, in the hope that he might yet win one outright.

Special anniversary

Nor can we necessarily expect the kind of acceptance speech we saw and heard from Halle Berry when named best actress - a historic moment marked by a momentous speech.

But let's face it, it did go on a bit.

One of the guests on our Oscar broadcast ordered a sandwich from room service when Russell Crowe announced the result, and had eaten it before Berry finished talking.

Halle Berry made a meal of winning the award for best actress

But I don't particularly expect this year's ceremony to be any shorter, and frankly I don't want it to be.

This year, we have the predictable battles between The Hours and Chicago for best picture.

This is tricky for me when I wasn't knocked sideways by either movie and was equally perturbed by Nicole Kidman's fake proboscis and Renee Zellweger's near-emaciated form.

We're also in for an emotional celebration of 75 years of Academy Award history in true Hollywood style.

Even in the recent past the Oscar show has managed to get these potentially hugely powerful nostalgia-fests rather badly wrong.

Five years ago, an array of past winners in the acting categories were wheeled out on a kind of giant park bench as the camera panned down the line and each received a round of well-deserved but increasingly monotonous applause.

Yet, I'm confident of something a bit more imaginative this time and would urge you to have your handkerchiefs ready when you bed down for the live coverage on BBC One on 23 March.

The pull of the anniversary will enable the academy to produce an array of stars who represent a living history of Hollywood.

Sidney Poitier was a popular choice to receive the honorary award

Even the National Soap Awards may pale by comparison. A difficult concept to grasp, but trust me on this one.

Sideshow interest

I'm not about to dip the Ross toe in the precarious waters of predicting who's likely to be going home with one of those little gold emasculated gentlemen when Steve Martin gets the show under way at the Kodak Theatre.

But, I do think some of the most interesting contests could be in some of the less prominent categories.

In the best documentary feature category, it is likely that Michael Moore's excellent Bowling for Columbine will feature.

In short, there's all makings of an intriguing, amusing, spectacular and memorable night.

Indeed, to amend the title of a now largely forgotten best picture winner, this really is The Greatest Television Show on Earth.

And if that wasn't enough, you get to see some very dubious outfits.