Now, a BBC Three documentary by one of Girls Aloud might not sound the likeliest source of some solid investigative journalism. None the less, Nicola Roberts: the Truth About Tanning, was not just good, but possibly even important.

Apparently, Roberts (the Scouse red-haired one) used to be obsessed with looking bronzed herself. Now, she’s embraced her outer paleness with the usual convert’s zeal. Her first stop last night was South Wales where she lectured tanning-addict Tom with a sternness that wouldn’t have shamed Ann Widdecombe.

But Roberts’s sights were soon set on wider things than a bloke from Cardiff. Since the advent of sunbeds, she told us, the number of cases of skin cancer in Britain has quadrupled. It’s also the fastest growing disease among young people – and Britain is one of the few Western countries with no legal age restrictions on sunbed use.

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