I AM more than a bit obsessed with the ITV programme This Time Next Year.

It’s the ultimate fast forward viewing for a world which seems to be in a massive hurry.

No need to wait to see if the guests will shed weight/have a baby/become a member of the magic circle/tour with Bruce Springsteen.

They simply walk through a door and then come back through another and voila - we have our answer.

And it isn’t just whether these game participants will achieve their life goals I am completely drawn in by.

It’s the complete commitment to maintaining the mystique of this all happening in the same moment - but actually a year has passed in between Davina McCall crossing from one side of the studio to another.

The audience is completely the same.

They are wearing the same clothes.

And even if they do have different outfits, they are filmed in such a way you barely notice.

Davina also has the same outfit on throughout.

She has done this for each of the three series. Choosing that dress must be a serious decision.

So far they have all been extremely figure hugging meaning there is absolutely no room for putting on, or dramatically shedding, poundage throughout the year.

I spent a good deal of the first two episodes of this series desperately looking for signs of change.

It would be easy to feel a major amount of ill will towards Davina for managing to look absolutely no different - there is no way I would be able to maintain my weight for an entire year.

I can’t do it for a month, let alone a year, and I also change my hair regularly too.

I cheer myself up by thinking about how Davina has probably had to spend they year eating a diet consisting mainly of Ryvita and spend many of her waking hours wearing her own range of work out gear, jumping up and down and pretending to be jolly.

She is always jolly.

Which is why she is the perfect host for this show.

Like a sympathetic best friend/older sister, she has perfected the matey empathetic hand on knee and word of encouragement for those heading out on their journey.

And she genuinely seems delighted when the longed-for result is achieved.

My favourites are the weight loss and having a baby goals.

But equally there are others which clearly stick in my mind, not least the girl who wanted to become a champion body builder.

And there is also the requisite amount of peril involved - many do not succeed.

Importantly though, they gave it a go.

Having a major ambition you would love to achieve, or something you need to overcome, is enough in itself, but to actually go on a programme and sit in front of the ever perky Davina is really putting yourself out there.

As a person who has struggled with extra poundage herself, the thought of pledging to shed a seemingly insurmountable amount of weight in front of someone who actually enjoys exercise and clearly springs out of bed every day with an unwavering “let’s do this” attitude quite frankly fills me with horror.

To have to potentially go back and tell her I didn’t do it, is even more horrifying.

But I love watching others put themselves through it, so I hope there’s a fourth series full of folks who will have already embarked on their challenges.