Monday 19 September 2022 01:29 AM CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night's TV: Looking for gold? See Nesbitt's ... trends now

View
comments

Bloodlands

Rating:

Frozen Planet II

Rating:

Goodbye Botox, and forget skin peels. As Jimmy Nesbitt whipped off his balaclava, looking 25 years younger, we entered the age of the electronic facelift.

Nesbitt, playing dirty Belfast copper DCI Tom Brannick in Bloodlands (BBC1), flaunted a taut jawline, unlined forehead and coal-black hair.

A caption flashed up: it was February 1998. Jimmy should have been filming the first series of Cold Feet, with sideburns, and Helen Baxendale as his girlfriend, Rachel — remember when they tried to get frisky in a charity shop window?

Yet here he was, on a dark night in Northern Ireland, killing a couple of bank robbers in cold blood to steal their loot.

This shot of him, looking half his real age, lasted only a few seconds. But it gave us a glimpse at the future of television. Celebrities have long been doctoring their selfies with computer software. Now telly is catching up. Soon, every actor and presenter will have the option of digital rejuvenation.

Some will be subtle, knocking just a few years off their appearance. Others will want to revert to their teens. No doubt we'll hear a lot of spurious justifications, with stars claiming the technology allows them to 'act their inner age' and 'reveal their true self'.