tamaris - // I liked it better with Richard. //
I occasionally watchd it in its very early days.
The ecxhanges between him and Carol Vorderman were excrutiating because he had no sense of humour whatsoever, but still fancied himself as a bit of a witty guy.
Carol Vorderman likewise had no sense of humour, so when Whitely laughed, as he often did through nerves, she was never sure if he had said something that was supposed to be funny, but of course she couldn't ever tell either way.
That meant she would laugh with that loud braying sound that the terminally humourless use to try and appear to be joining in, even when they don't know what's going on.
That meant Whitely had to laugh even more because of course, he had no idea if he was being funny or not, and he had no idea what Carol Vorderman was laughing at either, so his nerves kicked in and he would laugh some more, so she would start laughing again in case something funny was going on, but of course she had no idea either way .....
It was like a grotesque's gallery - really squrim-inudcing televison.
Now we have Rachel Riley who is witty, gorgeous, and every inch the maths genius CV was supposed to be.
Result!!