I’ve become sightly obsessed with the late American artist Bob Ross, after stumbling across The Joy of Painting on BBC Four. If you’ve never heard of him – and I hadn’t until a few weeks ago – he’s everything a television presenter should be right now, except for the dead part, obviously.  

For half an hour, his quiet Floridian accent draws you into a darkened studio, taking you on a journey from blank canvas to finished masterpiece. It’s like magic. And so soothing. Just 30 minutes of one man and his 70s-style afro with a palette of oils and fan brush creating lakeside landscapes and woodland wonderlands. The perfect antidote to any news at the moment. 

It’s not exactly a cool thing to boast about watching, especially as most of the series was filmed in the 1980s when TVs were square. But when I casually mentioned his name in the office, I found out he’s got a cult following – predominantly with students and those fond of relaxing tobacco. There’s even an interactive live streaming channel playing non-stop Bob Ross all weekend, where you’re invited to comment and chat with other viewers as his paintings seemingly come alive.  

One superfan with too much spare time has edited together a short sequence featuring all the occasions Bob washes and dries his brushes. He does this thing where he dips it in the paint thinner pot, shakes it, then furiously thwacks it back and forth on the pole of the easel whilst saying “just beat the devil out of it.” It sounds weird. It is weird. But I urge you to watch it. And let’s face it, what else is there to do at the moment? 

It’s usually on after Winter Walks, hosted by various presenters including the Yorkshire Peer, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and the multi-talented writer Lemn Sissay. Holding a 360 degree camera on a stick, they set off on solo saunters in either Yorkshire or Cumbria, stopping only to point the lens at stunning scenery whilst reading a poem or chatting to a resident cow. It’s mesmerising, particularly as the only soundtrack is nature and you get to shout “Ooh, I’ve been there.” 

So yeah, I’ve been watching a lot of telly this month. And since lockdown doesn’t look like it’s going to lift for a while, I’m generally grateful for the variety on offer. But on Friday night I heard a story so shocking on BBC 1 that I can’t shake the mental image. On the panel show Would I Lie to You?, actor Les Dennis admitted that after clipping his toenails, he keeps a few back to use as toothpicks. I’m not kidding. When host Rob Brydon rightly enquired why he didn’t use a standard toothpick, Les said that nails have a better hook. That was the moment when the reality of this third lockdown kicked in. So please, keep following the rules so that sooner rather than later we can all get out more.