I’ll pass on Back to the Future but there’s one screen phenomenon I can no longer resist

There was programme on Radio 4 that asked well-known personalities to have a go at experiences they’d never previously tried that are common to a lot of other people. It’s called I’ve Never Seen Star Wars (incidentally I haven’t, on the basis that it’s, well, nonsense really).

During its six years, the programme has seen Ian Hislop buy a pair of jeans for the first time, Sanjeev Bhaskar play Subbuteo, Esther Rantzen join Facebook and Suggs watch Titanic.

Like these four, we’ve all got boxes to tick that most of our peers have ticked already.

For example, I haven’t seen Back to the Future. Well, come on. It looks dated, tired and frankly best left in the past. But when I tell people my view of one of their great childhood memories, they look at me like I’ve just done something unspeakable to their cat. Like it’s almost an unwritten rule that nobody disses Back to the Future.

I saw the first Lord of the Rings, and wow – what a waste of time that was. I swear there was a one hour section that featured two trees talking to each other. That’s time that I won’t be getting back, and I won’t be wasting any more time on that particular series. “What?,” people exclaim in disbelief. “You don’t like Lord of the Rings? You haven’t seen The Two Towers? The Return of the King?” No. Sorry.

Then there are those big TV shows that do the rounds. The Wire, House Of Cards, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Homeland. I just don’t know how people find the time to watch them. Going back through the years, I also missed the likes of 24, Lost and The Sopranos. These were shows everyone was talking about, except me.

But now, I’ve given in. Such is the fervour and the hype and the relentless great reviews from all of those around me, I have started watching Breaking Bad. A work colleague told me this morning he was jealous that I’m getting to watch it from the start, wishing he could un-remember the whole thing and start again. One episode in (I’m not one for ten-in-a-row DVD binges), and I’m looking forward to the next one.

If this turns out to be any good, maybe the people that waxed lyrical about all those other shows were right all along. Maybe they are worth watching after all.

Still, I’ll never see Star Wars.