IT’S not hard to fathom the appeal of one of TV’s surprise hits.
Trawlermen is back for a new series next week, spread across five consecutive nights on BBC1.
The latest batch of adventures on the high seas begin at the start of this year, immediately after the Christmas and New Year holiday.
As the programme explains, crews only get paid a share of what they catch.
So if they don’t catch anything, they don’t get paid.
Fans of last year’s first series will be pleased to see Amity skipper Jimmy Buchan (pictured above left) and Ocean Venture skipper John Buchan (below right) in Monday’s first programme.
We watch them battle with a winter storm and treacherous seas.

YET again, Andrew Lloyd Webber has got the right person for the job after his latest TV search for a West End star.
Understudy Lee Mead was always the leading man among the finalists in BBC1’s Any Dream Will Do.
Like Maria winner Connie Fisher, he had that necessary mix of experience and talent to head the cast of a major stage musical.
And while Lloyd Webber had no casting vote in the final, he had reduced the risks of the wrong man getting the job in earlier rounds.
That left Lee, 25, as a firm favourite to win on Saturday night when a total of three million votes were cast by viewers.
“I feel incredible,” said Lee. “It’s the best feeling in the world.”
Lewis Bradley, 18, looked shocked to be voted out in third place – but at least got the chance for a final moment in the spotlight via Close Every Door.

TV bosses at Channel 4 know that every picture sells a story.
So they must have been delighted by the royal row over Diana: The Witnesses In The Tunnel which captured acres of media coverage.
Before, it was just another documentary about her death, and goodness knows we’ve had enough of them.
Now those newspaper headlines, TV, radio and web reports will have delivered a far larger audience tonight than would have watched otherwise.
I sat just a short distance away from Princes William and Harry at Diana’s Westminster Abbey funeral and saw what could not be broadcast on television – the tears which flowed for their mother.
Of course they will be upset by this film, which focused on events involving photographers in the Pont d’Alma tunnel after the Paris car crash which claimed her life.
In particular, there was concern about the decision to show a photo of a doctor administering oxygen to Diana, even though she was blocked out of the picture and unseen.

IT should be obvious by now that Simon Cowell is a very astute judge.
He knows the viewing public will eventually tire of seeing him on screen as TV fashions change.
Simon has already made noises about one day stepping down from American Idol.
You also wonder how much longer he can continue with The X Factor.
It’s now been confirmed that Dannii Minogue and Brian Friedman will join Simon and Sharon Osbourne as judges for the upcoming fourth series.
A brilliant format, perfectly executed, it both creates stars and demonstrates how hollow fame can be.
Just ask X Factor winner Steve Brookstein, Chico Slimani or Journey South, reported today to be singing on a three-night ferry trip from Portsmouth to Bilbao in Spain.
Now Simon has sailed on to his latest project – Britain’s Got Talent – which gives me a definite sinking feeling.

DAVINA appeared more excited than ever at the start of tonight’s live launch show for the new series of Big Brother.
She got in a cheeky trail even before the first on-screen apology was read out for that Celeb BB race row spot of bother.
The 2007 house looks one of the most interesting yet – and I’ve been in a fair few over the years, always wearing those plastic slipper things to keep the floors perfect for the incoming housemates.
First into the house tonight were terrible twins Sam and Amanda, who promise double trouble.
Within seconds they had fallen into the bath, this year handily placed in the living room – just like they used to be in the olden days.
Minutes later they were sucking lollies and squealing: “Have you seen the pinkness?”
The sisters, both students at Manchester Metropolitan University, were among 11 female housemates who entered the Channel 4 house.
Struggling to maintain its reputation – and ratings – after its brush with the regulator, the initial all female line-up is a first for the programme, along with the first set of twins.

TV bosses must like the look of Debbie Horsfield’s new drama serial.
Manchester filmed and set True Dare Kiss has been put into next month’s BBC1 schedule – just weeks after filming finished.
I spent some time on location in March, as you can read here.
True Dare Kiss was originally the second part of a stage trilogy, which began with Red Devils and ended with Command Or Promise.
I saw Red Devils performed at The Man In The Moon Theatre in London’s Kings Road around about 1984.
“It got really good reviews,” recalled Eccles-born Debbie when I mentioned that staging at the Chelsea pub theatre.
“And I think that’s what alerted the National Theatre to the whole trilogy – I think that’s how it came to be picked up by it.”

JAMES Nesbitt explores his dark side in a modern day TV adapation of an old story.
“It’s great that I finally get to wear wigs,” says the former Cold Feet star about his role in Jekyll.
“I’ve been saying to make-up artists for years that I want a full head of curly black hair, and now I’ve got it.”
The new six-part BBC1 series, due on screen next month, co-stars Gina Bellman, Denis Lawson, Michelle Ryan and Meera Syal.
It also has a twist – the 2007 Mr Hyde is more attractive than the new Dr Jekyll, called Tom Jackman.
Writer Steven Moffat explains: “One of the most important things is that our Hyde is not the wolf-man. This is about a different man, not a different face.
“Our Hyde acts different, rather than looks different. It’s a story of subtly different men.
“Victorian evil is fanged and monstrous and different from us. Modern evil is seductive and attractive and looks pretty much exactly like us.”

REMEMBER Andy Pandy?
I’m sure I can’t be the only one who grew up believing Andy to be a girl.
I was all of 25 when someone gently broke the news to me that Andy was, in fact, a boy.
Having spent the best part of my early life waving back to Andy on our little black and white TV, I must have been confused by the outfit.
And never once did I question why Andy lived in a picnic basket.
The television we watch when we’re little stays with us forever.
Decades later, a long forgotten theme tune or song can take us right back to our childhood.
He was a bit before my time, but it appears children’s TV character Muffin The Mule was once considered a threat to the health of the nation’s youngsters.
The forerunner of later classics like Andy Pandy, The Woodentops and Rag, Tag and Bobtail caused concern in the pioneering days of children’s TV.
Psychologists and educationalists were worried that television stopped families from talking and having meals together. That debate continues to this day.
Dentists also expressed fears about jaw displacement. So the BBC put out a short broadcast warning children not to lie on the floor with their head in their hands.

“AND remember, after dark…anything goes.”
That’s a line from radio DJ Mitch Moore in an impressive new ITV1 drama called Talk To Me.
Mitch is played by Burnage-born Max Beesley, who talked about his latest role at the London press launch yesterday.
With a story including sex, nudity and Max’s bare bum, the tabloids were hovering and ready to pounce.
There’s an all too predictable “Beesley is getting sleazy” headline in The Sun today.
Knowing the sort of instant coverage which might result from the launch, I wrote a story for today’s MEN – you can read the online version here.
Hopefully, it puts the four-part series in a little more context – the first feature on the drama will run nearer to transmission.
Max told us how he shadowed Radio One DJ Chris Moyles before filming his role as the After Dark host and how regular trips to the gym were now part of the job for leading men.

JUSTIN Lee Collins describes it as “the greatest primetime drama in TV history”. You won’t find any argument from me.
Dallas created classic characters like ruthless oil baron JR Ewing (Larry Hagman) and his alcoholic wife Sue Ellen (Linda Gray).
If you were a fan, you won’t forget JR telling Sue Ellen in his Texan drawl: “You’re a drunk and an unfit mother.”
You also won’t want to miss Bring Back Dallas, the latest plain daft adventure involving comedy star and presenter Justin.
Screened on Channel 4 at 9pm this Sunday, you can read all about it in yesterday’s MEN TV feature here.
The feature length film sees Justin up to his old tricks of ambushing cast members to take part – with an invite also on offer to his Oil Barons’ Ball.
A lot of it is, of course, total nonsense. At times you also wonder whether a simple phone call would have achieved the same result.
But then it wouldn’t have been half as much fun to watch.