In news that makes us want to sob gently, some bright spark over at yoof TV channel BBC Three has decided to give faux-reggae pop strumpet Lily Allen a load of cash and her own TV show. Based on social networking.

According to The Times, the groundbreaking broadcast will "pay homage" to MySpace and Facebook.

"Viewers will be invited to become Allen's virtual friends and will then be able to contribute to the show's discussions and put questions to the singer's guests," says the article. Sounds a bit talk radio, no?

The paper reports the BBC's executive editor Karl Warner said: "She's one of the hottest acts around and an important voice of her generation."

And according to the Beeb website, BBC Three controller Danny Cohen said: "She's one of the hottest acts around and an important voice of her generation."

Cohen is most famous as the subject of the satirical "Secret Blog of a TV Controller (aged 33 and 3/4)", which signed off earlier this week.

Allen was one of a few acts whose PR operations were able to dupe music hacks into believing they were bona-fide grassroots phenomena when the MySpace zeitgeist voodoo was at maximum strength a couple of years ago.®

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