CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night’s TV: I couldn’t wait to check out Alex Jones’ two-star hotel

Reunion Hotel

Judge:

dreamland

Judge:

Here’s a handy lifehack. If someone offers you a clever, novel and time-saving way to complete a task, ignore them. You will save yourself a lot of trouble.

Internet tips on handy ways to open a can of beans, pack a suitcase or tie your boots never work. That’s because they were created for TikTok videos by teenage influencers who assume that everything new must automatically be better.

Alex Jones’ (BBC2 and BBC1 Wales) Reunion Hotel was a prime example of the hopeless hack, the bed sausage… an innovative way to get confused while struggling to fit a duvet inside a duvet.

How it works: Turn the cover inside out and place it on the mattress. Put the duvet on it. Roll them up towards the open end. Pull back the lid around the sausage, give it a good shake, sprain your shoulder, keep shaking, cry in frustration, and finally you have a lumpy continental comforter. Nice.

Alex Jones’ (BBC2 and BBC1 Wales) Reunion Hotel was a prime example of the hopeless hack, the down sausage… an innovative way to get confused while struggling to tuck a quilt up your sleeve

Before the internet we had sheets and blankets. So much easier, so much cheaper, and so dated. In the TikTok era, tucking in a blanket feels as medieval as sleeping on straw with a pig to keep you warm.

The duvet hack was just an extra, a little 20-tog filler on Alex’s show, which brought people together for an emotional meeting at a boutique hotel in North Wales. Her catchphrase was interesting: “If you had a chance to meet someone from your past, who would it be?”

But the size is an uneven mess, like a badly wrapped quilt. It took bits and pieces from Long Lost Family, from DIY SOS, and from hotel reality documentaries and put it all together into one giant pillowcase.

A couple brought their children to thank the volunteer builders who helped them renovate their bathroom after their daughter was born with a painful skin condition. Another man and his wife came to meet the brother he never knew he had.

The concept had to be stretched for the most interesting story, as 22-year-old Tegan Badham was there to meet a man who played mere seconds in her past. Last July she slipped on the platform at King’s Cross tube station and had to be rescued by a stranger.

Lily Allen (right), the jaded and rebellious sister of Trish (Freema Agyeman, left), proved what we already knew, that she’s good at playing characters with attitude and a smile

Beautician Tegan suffered burns from the 420-volt power rail – “like a cramp in the leg, but all over the body”. The rubber soles of her boots saved her from fatal shock, but if 31-year-old Anthony Smith from Australia had not grabbed her, she would have been hit by the oncoming train.

By the time she knew what was going on, Anthony was gone. “I will give him the biggest cwtch [cuddle] ever,” she promised. Alex clearly hoped the two would fall in love and be married at first sight, but even she couldn’t fit that extra plug into her duvet cover.

Also family sitcom Dreamland (Sky Atlantic) packed a lot in its first half hour when we met four generations at a party for pregnant mother Trish (Freema Agyeman) in Margate and then went to hospital to find out about racism at the GGD ‘s ridge.

Lily Allen, as Mel, Trish’s jaded and rebellious sister, proved what we already knew, that she is good at playing characters with attitude and a smile. Then she revealed something I wouldn’t have guessed: she’s hopeless at physical comedy. Lily can’t fall over.

Co-starring are Frances Barber, Martina Laird, Aimee-Ffion Edwards and Gabby Best, with Sheila Reid as harbor swell Nan. It’s too many top actresses who don’t have enough space to shine. It’s a crowded quilt of a comedy.