Pinches of Salt

Charlie Roebuck knows all about ''showbiz''. He's spent his adult life in front of the camera, an expert in the art of the condescending smile, a genius at appearing to give a damn. Be it grilling bent politicians or dissecting the personal lives of the great and good, it's all the same to Charlie, all grist to the mill. But when he is forced to front the last series of Pinches of Salt he fears the worst. For the past 30 years the show has been following five lacklustre individuals through their tiresome lives and every five years the TV company descend to pick over their bones. The trouble is none of them has amounted to anything, hardly fertile ground for good television, hardly BAFTA winning material