The return of Troubleshooter – the original business-guru show
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Version 0 of 1. There's a proven route for the top British businessman in semi-retirement: a clutch of non-executive directorships, some boards to chair, a bauble from the honours system and a TV series in which you go round mouthily fixing struggling companies. Sir John Harvey-Jones, after running ICI, was the founder host of the BBC's Troubleshooter series in the early 90s, while Sir Gerry Robinson, when done with Granada TV and Allied Domecq, fronted a Troubleshooter remake called I'll Show Them Who's Boss in 2004 (followed by Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS? in 2007. Most doctors and patients know the answer, even if they didn't see the show). Now Lord Digby Jones, former Director General of the CBI, is reviving the franchise again in Digby Jones: the New Troubleshooter, a three-part series starting tonight. It is not just the title that harks back to the late Harvey-Jones; Digby Jones echoes half of the originator's surname and even physically resembles him: tubby and bluff, with hair worn long at the neck in compensation for a bald scalp. One added extra that the hyphen-less Jones brings, though, is his patriotism – the camera cuts frequently to his union flag cuff-links. On screen, Lord Digby Jones – like Sir John and Sir Gerry before him – is essentially a capitalist paramedic, summoned to the flatlining or down-lining profit graphs of businesses. But the structure has been tweaked to reflect the more combative nature of contemporary television. Because there are two very significant things that have happened in business television since the first Troubleshooter: The Apprentice and Dragons' Den - both of which the relaunched format acknowledges. And like Lord Sugar, Lord Digby Jones is subject to a special section of the Highway Code that dictates that he can't get into a car without bombastic classical music on the soundtrack and close-ups of his tyres scrunching gravel. Once the new Troubleshooter has gone into Hereford Furniture and established that the family house-stuff company needs to reduce its product lines and glamourise its branding, the firm's bosses have to pitch their new concept to design tycoon Emma Bridgewater. It's a sequence that combines the bit where the Den's dragons decide if they're in or out and the presentations Sugar's apprentices give to industry bigwigs. Not surprisingly, The Apprentice and Dragons' Den have had a huge impact on the tone of business programming. While Harvey-Jones issued his opinions in wry, kindly lines, Lord Sugar barked dismissals – and in Dragons' Den (as the programme title suggests) fiery snapping has popularised an aggressive approach to the giving of advice. Mary Portas, star of Mary Queen of Shops and other retail-feedback shows, in particular is known for her hard-telling-it-like-it-is. Taking over Harvey-Jones's manor, Lord Digby Jones can be seen – along with Russell Norman of The Restaurant Man – as part of an anti-Sugar axis, proving that masterclasses do not have to be nasty. The new Troubleshooter has a lot of laughter and back-slapping with the lads on the factory floor, and although LDJ can sometimes be very direct (telling the makers of Hereford Furniture at one point that their goods are "functional, decent, value for money – and boring!"), that's mild compared with Sugar, who would probably have said: "Chairs, my arse!" LDJ does however shows signs of developing a catchphrase, "Give me the financials!", used several times when the firm is slow with the cash-flow projections he demands. The test of any business programme is the balance between entertainment and inside insight into how commerce works. On this scale, The Apprentice is tremendous fun but not very functional while The Restaurant Man managed to be both. Digby Jones: the New Troubleshooter is also capable of this feat. When the furniture boss admits that profits have fallen massively, LDJ asks: "Did the market go down or did your share of the market go down?" When the answer turns out to be the latter, we immediately understand the expert nature of the inquiry. Although Lord Digby Jones makes an impressive successor to those who previously shot trouble, it will be noticed that all three versions of the franchise so far have been given to men from similar business backgrounds. And so it must be a good bet that in a decade or so, when Mary Portas is known on her chequebook as Lady Portas of Harvey Nicks, the presenter will be called in for a fourth incarnation of these fascinating workplace surgeries. • Digby Jones: the New Troubleshooter starts tonight at 8pm on BBC2 |