Nigella roasts Granada man in C4 promo

Everyone’s at it. From Greg Dyke to John Billett, it seems they all want to take a dig at ITV. Now even the daughter of a former chancellor of the Exchequer has joined the throng.

Nigella Lawson has made a promotional video for Channel 4 to promote its winter schedule to advertisers. She makes the most of the opportunity by taking a swipe at Granada Enterprises, accusing a “certain Mr Desmond (Mick Desmond, chief executive of Granada’s airtime sales operation) of Gray’s Inn Road” of selling against a schedule of bland, unimaginative and mediocre programmes.

As Mr Desmond was not there to defend himself, the Diary feels compelled to do so. Nigella may be a brilliant cook, top columnist and “domestic goddess”, but the Diary would advise her to steer well away from the bruising world of airtime sales. Or maybe, just maybe, she could actually do a better job than Desmond. Hmmmm.