You can imagine the meeting among BBC writers after the director-general announced that the corporation is to cut back on swearing and sex after 9pm.

It seems that Mark Thompson has decided that the corporation is going to uphold standards instead of chasing after the lowest common denominator in search of ratings.

Blimey, thought our pony-tailed chums in the writing room. How can we make our new programme about the maverick cop/judge/doctor “edgy” and “dangerous” and “challenging” if we can’t swear a lot and have the lead actress get her kit off?

Hmm. It’s a tricky one, lads. Perhaps you could start by using a bit of imagination? (And perhaps you could – just once – try and think of something that doesn’t involve a maverick cop/judge/doctor? Just a thought.)

Anyway, I’m with the DG on this one. Watch the telly now and you’ll see things that were unthinkable 10 years ago, and I don’t think it’s made Britain a better place.

In fact, I’d be quite happy to argue that the declining standards of our national broadcaster is having a coarsening effect on society. And because shock value wears off, they’re always going to new extremes. Child abuse? Nah, done that one. Incest? That was on last week’s Waking the Dead, mate.

Look at comedy. It’s rare you see a genuinely funny comedy these days. They usually rely on bodily functions to get laughs from shock value – and comedy and shock are two separate beasts.

Now, obviously we don’t want to end up with hours and hours of Heartbeat and The Good Life. That would be too grim a prospect to deal with, but it would be nice if programme-makers thought a bit more about what they were producing and the audience they are aiming at. It would be nice if you could watch TV after 9pm with older children and not feel on edge.

Standards, after all, is not a dirty word.