I must say I agree with him up to a point.
All these so called celebrity this, that & the other shows are a complete bore IMO, as are all the talent shows. The only reason there are a proliferation of the lifestyle programmes with police, doctors, nurses, rescue services, gardeners, cooks, home makeovers etc, etc etc, are made is because they are relatively cheap to make with no so called "TV stars" to pay. A number of these "stars" are now resorting to presenting these types of show now that they are out of work. The likes of Martin Clunes & Caroline Quintin spring to mind touring the world making travel type documentaries.
There are around 25 million registered TV sets in the UK. If 7 million watch a talent show then up to 18 million are watching something else or have switched off.
Rodders could be an ex policeman at age 51. If he had joined the police before he was 21 he could have retired on full pension after 30 years service. With a bit of make up they will make him look a bit older maybe. People joining the police since 2006 must wait until they are 55 to retire on full pension.
Whilst I'm sorry to see Alun Armstrong & Amanda Redman leave New Tricks I'm looking forward to Rodders and Tamzin Outhwaite joining the team. I will also be sorry to see Susan Jameson leave the programme. She gets the best lines most of the time.