CONFUSED? IT'S TV FOR GROWN-UPS, THAT'S WHY.

DO YOU want the unvarnished truth? The dull reality of everyday life and everyday death? If so, don't watch TV. Ever. Don't read books because they might be fictionalised. Some of those painful memoirs turn out to be exaggerated. The internet has lots of made-up stuff too -- yes, even the factual bits such as Wikipedia. Unmediated reality is getting harder to get at these days, which is why the current rows over fakery twist in ever more snakey ways. Somewhat belatedly, we seem to have got it into our heads that you cannot trust what you see on TV. The Queen did not have a temper tantrum in a photoshoot, though who would blame her if she did? The final moments of a man dying from Alzheimer's were not his actual final moments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]