I come from the future

We missed the final instalment of Face of Britain on Saturday on account of my brain being missing. I couldn’t find it in any of the usual places (the programme, not my brain). Then I remembered that we are all now living in Teh Future where everything in the world is available instantly, so I hopped decadently across to Channel 4’s 4 on Demand website and downloaded it. Big, crisp image, and the whole thing is completely free. Now that’s what I call progress.

It’s hobbled by Digital Rights Management so you can’t burn it to a disk and watch it on the TV, but that’s not unreasonable under the circumstances. Basically you have 48 hours from whenever you first press play to watch it as often as you like, in a rental-type way. The only downside is you have to use Windows XP, Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player in order to access the service, so if you’re a Gatesophobe this could prove awkward.

The BBC are introducing something that looks suspiciously similar later this year.

The future really is a shiny place. Although that may just be the global warming.