Brigstocke, contrite:

Chris Morris and Armando Iannucci could never have known when they made The Day Today that thousands of devotees would so carelessly, crappily copy their model and so many nice old people would be left wondering what the hell just happened as four big men and a camera strode away giggling.

Oh, but they did. They very much knew. The inevitability with which they would be aped by legions of slack-jawed producers clawing after irony was all part of their horrific black humour. Watching The Day Today now is simply pointless; ten minutes of any major news channel will cover the same material.