TV Review: Ireland's Fittest Family would be better if they made it lean like the contestants

It’s like the Ploughing Championships crossed with a Medieval Torture Tournament, and I like it

Sonia O'Sullivan with the Noonan family from Meath in Ireland's Fittest Family

I’ve always liked Sonia O’Sullivan. She was a brilliant competitor and has this lovely understated way about her on the telly, suggesting she can take it or leave it.

So it was a bit much when they made a huge palaver of her announcement as the newest coach on Ireland’s Fittest Family (RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.) Sonia had the good sense to say that for her, it was more about the action than the words, the less shouting the better. But that’s not really the way things go on this show. So before we got to see any action, we had to sit through a session of coach-banter, with the four coaches joshing each other about the families that they have chosen to mentor.