I THINK I am in need of some enlightenment. Can anyone tell me what the exact purpose of last night's Cooking With ... programme was?

I can understand that TV regards food as a sure way of attracting viewers and we all know how production companies are drawn to celebrities like moths to a flame.

But when you put the two elements together in the strange manner of Cooking With... I think I'd rather watch an egg boil.

The subject of the first programme was Cilla Black. It was a strange combination of a self-conducted This Is Your Life with Cilla wandering round parts of Liverpool where she grew up and Celebrity Ready Steady Cook.

All the programme revealed was that Cilla is a big fan of offal and was introduced to the delights of avocado (her words not mine) by George Harrison.

We also got the chance to watch Cilla cook liver and bacon, eat a bacon sandwich, go to a fish and chip shop, make some cheese on toast and tuck into a posh meal.

Things weren't helped by the awful CBeebies-style voiceover which tried to tell us how harsh life was in the war years but came over as a bit like the Monty Python Four Yorkshiremen sketch.

Perhaps the follow-up could be Washing Up WIth .. in which the Cilla gets round to clearing away her pots.

Still next week will be worth watching as it's scheduled to be that well-known celeb Tom Parker-Bowles!