WITH the green logo of Russia Today glowing radioactively in a corner of the screen, the Alex Salmond Show fizzed into life.
“I’m looking forward to you joining me every week as we meet a whole host of politicians, stars of stage and screen, business personalities, influence leaders and those who wannabe any of the above,” declared Scotland’s former FM.
It was a bold move given the rate at which notables and quotables are body-swerving his show on the pro-Kremlin channel, as was a concrete-clad set that had all the warmth of an interrogation cell.
But never mind that pesky controversy over the Russkies. In TV terms, how did the new arrival do? Was he the new Jon Stewart or a Poundland Parky? The heir to David Frost or a Lidl Lorraine?
Answer: he was Alex Salmond. Even for a programme titled the Alex Salmond Show, there was a lot of Alex Salmond. Did he mention that he used to be the First Minister of Scotland? Only at the rate of Basil Fawlty referencing the war.
Intro over, it was time for “State Your Case”, an item that could have come straight from Alan Partridge’s Monkey Tennis file. There to have her say was Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, who presumably had not received the memo about the boycott or had taped her segment before the RT flak hit the fan.
Any new chat show needs newsworthy guests. Ms Kennedy was far from that, although Mr Salmond did reveal he had once offered the Labour peer a job as “a Minister of the Crown” only for her to say no.
Next came a report from fellow former MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh that had as its hook Nicola Sturgeon’s apology to gay men prosecuted under discriminatory legislation of the past. With the story a week old, anyone would think it had been included to crowbar in a mention of the FM, despite her distancing of herself from Mr Salmond’s new enterprise.
To his credit, he did land a sit down in Brussels with Carles Puigdemont, the sacked president of Catalonia. At one point Puigdemont spoke about being a reporter before turning to politics. “You’re a journalist, no?” he asked Mr Salmond. “I’ve gone in the other direction,” the host chuckled.
He certainly has, and there is no turning back now.
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