Channel Island hopping

I was interviewed on BBC Radio Guernsey yesterday.

Like the UK, the island’s government is considering further restrictions on smoking and the sale of tobacco.

According to reports, the public supports extending the smoking ban to a number of outdoor spaces. There is also support for raising the age of sale from 18 to 21.

Whenever I appear on Radio Guernsey, or the Channel Island News (BBC1), I am reminded of my one and only visit to the island 20 years ago.

I went at the invitation of a local hotelier who was campaigning against the proposed indoor smoking ban. He had organised a public meeting and wanted me to speak, which I did.

Unfortunately his campaign (Support Our Smokers) couldn’t prevent the ban which was introduced in 2005 when Guernsey became the first place in the British Isles to prohibit smoking in indoor public places.

Jersey followed on January 2, 2007, but unlike Guernsey I’ve never been there.

I wouldn’t say it’s on my bucket list but it’s the only significant part of the British Isles I’ve never visited so I ought to make the effort.

Funnily enough, I am currently watching the new series of Bergerac on U. At the same time I am dipping in to the ‘classic’ series that starred John ‘Midsomer Murders’ Nettles in the Eighties.

Aside from the rather grainy picture, I am enjoying the original more than the reimagined version of the Jersey detective.

In the original he was a recovering alcoholic and divorced but had a string of glamorous girlfriends. In the new version he is a recovering alcoholic but recently widowed with a daughter and intrusive mother-in-law, and the programme spends far too much time addressing his personal struggle, which is boring, frankly.

Apparently, the authorities in Jersey hope to enjoy a tourist bounce on the back of it, but the charm, humour and fun of the original series are noticeably lacking, so I’m not sure who would want to jump on a plane (or ferry) and follow in the ‘new’ man’s footsteps.

I’m not saying it’s bad but it doesn’t stand out in a crowded field of TV coppers, and it doesn’t help that a significant character in the new series is played by an actor who appears as a not dissimilar character in the current series of The Bay (yet another police series) on ITV.

Confused? I was.