“They drew me too many arm- Like I said, anything can happening in the amazing world of animation.”

Was it Martin Clunes or the pickled eggs that turned him into a camp kiddie-fiddler? :

Oh yes? Oh no, no, no, no, no…

I smile because I love how they try to make the chaser as intimidating as possible and crank up the scare tactics. Hitler would be proud.

First of all, there’s the death march. The Chaser gets introduced with a dramatic new appearance accompanied with musical fanfare and a light show all of their very own. They just need a marching band all their own and we’ve got a full on 1930s political march.

But it gets better – the producers of the show decide to wheel the Chaser off stage only so he or she  can make a dramatic new appearance every time someone steps up to the podium. We get to see the Chaser march in 4 times a programme, once for each contestant – to the same music, to the same light show. Not only does the Chaser get to do the march but they even come up with a new witty put down for each contestant. Splendid.

My favourite part of the programe involves the chasers themselves. There are three that I’ve seen but I’m sure they’ll add more. There’s a nasty, matriarchal female school teacher-type everyone remembers scoring their test papers with lashings of red ink, a big burly waddling bruiser film-extra who looks slightly like a fat version of Snape from Harry Potter and… wait for it… the weediest, geekiest black man they could find. His name’s Shaun by the way.

If TV is a reflection on the society it comes from, I reckon The Chase acts as a pretty good mirror. After all, we all know, black people are just terrifying.

And here they are in all their glory:

When Shaun stares at you, you know you’ve got a problem.

The smug chap at the front is the presenter but you knew that already.