Tonight we met my grandparents in a pub for a catch-up meal, as they were staying in the area. This meant that we missed our usual Wednesday evening ritual - The Apprentice, Tuesdays @ 9pm on BBC1.

Luckily, BBC’s iPlayer makes the unmissable, unmissable. So, a few minutes after it had finished on BBC1 (just as we returned from the pub), I turned on the wireless laptop and we were able to watch the full episode in full-screen glory. No installations or 3rd party programs, no active-x controls or scripts, just the usual Flash 9, as per YouTube.

I have to admit that it’s the first time I’ve used the iPlayer - though Anneka and Emily have used it countless times recently, to watch programmes they’d missed. The quality is good and consistant, though there was visible tearing and stuttering from time-to-time. I think this is due to the limitations of streaming Flash media, rather than bottlenecks in the 10MB cable broadband, or the wireless connection.

So, if you’re going to miss, or have already missed a BBC TV programme - then catch up with the unmissable via the highly recommended BBC iPlayer. We’re going to use it again next Wednesday for The Apprentice, as we’ve already booked tickets to go and see Sex and the City.

Oh, as for tonight’s episode of The Apprentice - we were shocked that Alpha won, as their advert and packaging looked horrid, but Rennaissance missed one minor point - their ad contained no mention of the product that they were trying to sell. School boy error #1.