LATELY, I’ve been feeling an increasing sense of déjà vu. It seems to occur mainly while watching television, particularly the soaps, or sometimes during a reality show.

Somehow, I just know what’s going to happen – so much so that I feel I don’t even really need to watch the programme.

This usually happens following a day when I’ve read either a magazine or national newspaper, listened to the radio or watched any television earlier in the day – so pretty regularly.

For instance, I knew that in Monday night’s Coronation Street, runaway Chesney was going to be discovered sleeping in the Windasses’ garden shed and that Luke was going to woo Michelle with a makeshift beach in his backyard.

I also knew that Mona was going to be fired in the other week’s episode of The Apprentice and that, in Eastenders, Billy was going to finally tell Jay the truth about Jase’s death.

I’m sure there can’t be many people out there who aren’t in the same boat, thanks to this obsession with knowing what’s around the corner.

Just a quick glance through the Daily Mirror, catching five minutes of GMTV in the morning, or even listening to the local radio station on the way to work can spoil that night’s TV viewing.

One of my all-time favourite Corrie moments was when Alan Bradley was run over by a tram in Blackpool after trying to murder Rita Fairclough.

I was on the edge of my seat because I simply didn’t know what was going to happen.

Compare that, many years later, to the moment when Tracy Barlow whacked evil Charlie Stubbs over the head with an ornament.

I still wanted to watch it, but the episode held none of the anticipation because I had already seen the scene several times in the papers and on various TV shows.

Even worse, a number of shows have now started previewing what’s coming up after the break – in literally five minutes from now.

It’s as if they’re so terrified you’re going to switch over, they have to lure you into the next sector of the programme.

Personally, if I’m watching something, I have every intention of sitting through the whole thing – so I don’t need to know what’s coming up, because I’ll see it for myself in just a few minutes!

The only solution – and one I have had to resort to in the past when I’ve missed an episode of The Apprentice or Britain’s Got Talent – is to shut yourself off from the rest of the world entirely.

Not an easy task when your job entails knowing what’s going on in the world.