ITV is temporarily shutting down this weekend and it’s our goddamn fault

You know that your neglect of the gym membership you bought in January is getting out of hand when even your TV is telling you to get off the damn sofa and start moving.

From 9:30am on August 27, ITV will stop broadcasting for a whole hour. And before you ask, yes, that will interrupt ITV2's Coronation Street omnibus. They're not fucking about here. According to BBC News, the blackout will cover all of the broadcaster's seven channels, and is intended to encourage people to get involved in sport after Team GB's Olympic success. Ignoring the obvious fact that you could just switch over to one of roughly five million other channels, or watch Netflix, or turn on the PlayStation, or go back to bed - and that's assuming you're even awake by this time anyway - we think this is a good idea. For all we know, the next Greg Rutherford (who will be taking part on the day) could be unearthed on that Saturday morning; a nine-year-old child who has put down his iPad to go into the garden and jump over the dog. Some guy might wake up bleary-eyed and half cut from the night before, and by midday - after a well-timed Berocca - have transformed himself into a graceful gymnast. It's all to play for. The Bank Holiday Weekend will hold a number of events to welcome the Team GB athletes back from Rio and 2,000 sports clubs will welcome people of any fitness level to try a new activity for free. Bill Sweeney, the chief executive of the British Olympic Association, said:

"I Am Team GB' will be the country's biggest ever sports day, inviting participants from all the Home Nations to share in the performances of Team GB athletes at Rio 2016 and be inspired to get active."

We're already got our javelins ready. Read more