The annual bout of Henmania almost drew to a rather swift close on Tuesday. By Thursday it was all over. It’s a pity. Normally we get the best part of two weeks fretting over Tim’s skin of the pants performances before he finally bows out.

At least it allowed the spotlight to fall on some much needed new blood as Andy Murray, a talented youngster on the brink of a brilliant career, was set up to be our latest heroic failure.

Rusedski, who we feel is British when winning and Canadian when he bows out, was also there to provide entertainment but for me the magic of the tournament has gone. No more Harry Carpenter trying to pad desperately during the rain storms, no Des Lynam smoothly guiding us through the highlights. For fans of Dishy Des, he is there but in sound only on Five Live.

McEnroe, despite finding it impossible to stick to talking about the match he should be commentating on, is keeping us enthralled from the commentary box but there are few personalities of his ilk still gracing the Centre Court.

Put simply, it’s not as much fun as it used to be. When it rains, why not put Doctors back on? Or even if it's just a bit overcast.

Smallville Rocks

Some teenagers get acne and bad attitudes. Clark Kent gets super hearing and X-Ray vision. I think I’d have killed for X-Ray vision when I was an adolescent.

The latest season of Smallville went out with a dazzling array of special effects, a rather brutal murder (how could they do that to Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman?) and everything a fan could wish for except a decent ending.

After building up the tension superbly for the whole episode, it just sort of well, stopped. Yes we want to see what happens next but it wasn’t so much an edge of your seat cliffhanger as a pause in the action.

It will be interesting to see where they take the next season now that they’ve all finally left school but no doubt the meteor freak of the week storylines will continue.

Oh No, not Sharon and Dennis!

Does EastEnders really need to keep revisiting the past to be great again?

Sharon flounced back into the square so haughtily it put me in mind of Miss Piggy, while her brother/lover/minder Dennis is as broody and monosyllabic as ever. His face-off with Johnny Allen was as toe-curlingly predictable as it was unconvincing.

All this of course was manner from heaven for the Slater clan who got to air their dirty washing in Queen Vic yet again.

All this infidelity and double-dealing is bound to cause problems. They should think themselves lucky that no one is a deranged vet armed with syringe full of horse medicine. Emmerdale’s Scott wasn’t quite so lucky in yet another ludicrous storyline from the pantomime of all soaps.

As they seem to bringing back old characters to Albert Square, why not resurrect Doctor Legg. He was a great presence in the soap and I’ve missed him. We need more ordinary folk in our soaps and less sensationalism if they are to retain the quality on which there reputations were built.

50 Years of ITV

There will be plenty of shows celebrating ITV at 50 but if you want to see one of the best dramas ever produced, you could do much worse than check out UKTV Drama’s re-runs of Upstairs, Downstairs.

These are beautifully written scripts, set in a historical context with some excellent playing, in particular from the peerless Gordon Jackson as the butler, Hudson.

At present, the episodes set during the First World War are airing and are particularly poignant. Look out for some excellent and sensitive playing from Christopher Beeny as the shell shocked footman turned trooper Edward.

Fleeting fame

It’s always good to see what happened to the stars of yesteryear and After They Were Famous is always worth a look.

They cram a lot in to the half hour slot and I often think I’d enjoy it more if they extended the show to an hour so it can be viewed at a more leisurely pace.

It’s great to see those stars that have found happiness in the wake of their fame, like Richard Chamberlain for example. However it’s much more fun to see the thinly veiled bitterness in some of those who seem to mourn the passing of their moment in the spotlight.

Irritating ads

Captain Kirk is really getting on my nerves in those All Bran ads. I‘m sure it’s a nice little earner from him but it’s torture for us viewers and I must say, they don’t give the urge to rush out and buy a box.

As for those insurance ads with Craig Cash, the only quote that would make happy would be one in which he said he wouldn’t make anymore.

And don’t get me started on Honda…

More next weekend.