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TV’s opiate influence in Berlusconi’s Italy is the focus of this fitfully persuasive doc, which claims the flamboyant PM has established an all-pervasive celebrity culture in order to exert a quasi-fascist hold over a gullible populace.

Witnesses for the defence of director Erik Gandini’s argument come in the form of a paparazzo who blackmails his subjects, plus a labourer who’s desperate for small-screen stardom and a talent scout whose mobile has a Mussolini ringtone.

Yet while it’s hard to dispute Silvio has helped flood his country’s airwaves with scantily clad totty, what’s missing from this doc is any piercing insight into old Hair Plugs himself.

Neil Smith is a freelance film critic and writer who contributes regularly to Heat, SFX and Screen International. He's a long-time member of the London Film Critics’ Circle and was a contributing editor at Total Film for many years.