PEOPLE can be so miserable sometimes.

Craig Revel Horwood will be turning on Salisbury’s Christmas lights tomorrow.

Predictably, the announcement last week on the Journal’s website and Facebook page was met with comments such as “couldn’t they have got someone better?”.

Well, no, I daresay they couldn’t.

The man is on prime time Saturday and Sunday night television every week, watched by nine million people.

And if his pronouncements of “disaster, dahling” on Strictly Come Dancing aren’t quite your cup of tea, he’s also a highly-regarded theatre director and a Laurence Olivier Award-nominated choreographer.

His production of Fiddler on the Roof at the Mayflower earlier this year was, as he might say, fab-u-lous.

All right, so he’s probably coming to Salisbury because his partner lives here.

But is taking time out of an undoubtedly very hectic schedule to do something nice for your boyfriend’s home city really a bad thing?

Revel Horwood cultivates his nasty judge image on telly, but that is just a persona.

Every show needs a bad guy, and he’s more often than not the one who gives the contestants the constructive criticism they need to help them improve.

And kids love him.

My son was inspired to take dancing lessons by watching Strictly and he’s delighted that he’ll get the chance to see one of his favourite TV personalities in the flesh.

So come on, people. How about some welcoming Christmas spirit?

Go out, enjoy the fireworks and the lights – and be thankful you’re not getting someone obscure in a dodgy Santa suit.

As Tracey Robinson from Larkhill succinctly put it on the Journal’s Facebook page: “Who do you expect? Brucie?”.