SHOWBIZ folk treasure one thing above all others: the encore. Nothing bolsters the performer's ego better than the instruction to "play it again, Sam". Standing ovations have implications, however. Audiences get what we deserve; if the public scream "more, more!" that's exactly they'll give us. More - much more - of the same.

Sequels have been with us ever since they brought out the New Testament. But this year the copycat quotient is off the scale. We are facing a year with more repeats than the British Beer Festival.

Television, that most voracious consumer of creativity, is always reheating yesteryear's TV dinners. For every successful new idea there are 17 spin-offs.

Because Big Brother was a ratings winner, British TV went reality crazy. We have endured more series of Big Brother (the third is set to screen in summer), Survivor, Popstars, Pop Idol, Soapstars, Castaway and many others too tedious to mention.

When TV bosses are not busy photocopying formats, they are down in the morgue. Also known as the archive, this dingy room is where long-dead series are sparked back to life by ratings-crazed producers.

Soon we will be able to watch another series of the remake of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), starring Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer in the roles played by Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope 30 years ago.

And yesterday it emerged that Ant and Dec, the omnipresent ITV duo, are to star in a new version of Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais's sitcom The Likely Lads, first screened between 1965 and 1969.

Whatever happened to the Likely Lads? Well, they were first revived in 1973 in the series Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? In both series, Terry Collier and Bob Ferris were played with winning charm by James Bolam and Rodney Bewes. Now the north-east's finest, Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, are to recreate the roles. These 21st century Likely Lads are hardly likely to pull in the sort of viewers attracted to the original - 27 million of them at the show's peak. But at least they are not trying anything new or interesting. That's what our telly bosses strive tirelessly to avoid.

Ant and Dec's project is no surprise. The BBC had already announced plans to heave another rusting Clement/La Frenais vehicle back on the road. Auf Wiedersehen Pet, first broadcast in 1983 on ITV, is to be revived on BBC1.

The original series about a group of Geordie builders in Dusseldorf was a surprise hit, making stars of Jimmy Nail, Kevin Whately and others. Tellingly the originality of even this series has been questioned; the authors of the Ultimate TV Guide called it "The Likely Lads go to Germany".

So where can we go to escape Whatever Happened To Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads In Germany Again, Pet? The cinema?

If there's one thing Hollywood does well, it's doing one thing over and over again. And this has never been more true than in 2002. Maybe it's down to last year's threat of strike action by screenwriters and actors. Maybe it's a case of playing it safe in the light of September 11. Maybe it's simply a dearth of imagination.

But there is nothing new under the sun - or under the multiplex roof - for filmgoers in the coming months. One of the big films at the moment is Ocean's Eleven, in which George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts reprise the Rat Pack movie of the same name starring Frank Sinatra. But that's only the start. Filming is well underway for the 40th anniversary James Bond - number 20 - due out at the end of the year.

By then, this same-old-story of spying folk will feel like a paragon of innovation. In the ensuing months, we'll have been subjected to Star Trek 10 (the movie of the TV series which itself has been reinvented four times - the latest incarnation, called Enterprise, is being broadcast on Sky); Star Wars 5 (bizarrely, because this is a prequel, it is actually Star Wars 2); and the second instalments of both Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings.

That's not to mention another celluloid Spiderman, and a tarted-up version of ET, to mark the 20th anniversary of the prune-headed alien. And Disney is planning a contemporary version of Cinderella, presumably set in a Detroit drugs squat.

The demise of originality has been prematurely pronounced on numerous occasions. But if originality is not dead, it is certainly bedridden, judging by its lack of appearances on the small and big screen. Still not convinced? Consider this. The BBC is planning to televise musicals from London's West End theatre, including South Pacific, My Fair Lady and the upcoming stage remake of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

The latter will create a unique moment in the history of deja vu all over again: it will be the television adaptation of the stage version of the film favourite based on the book by Ian Fleming (author of the Bond books which begat 20 Bond films...)

Recycling entertainment is bad for us. So what can we do? Simple. Don't watch this repetitive tosh, and invest the time you save in seeking out new experiences. Life is short, remember.

When you do come across something new and wonderful applaud it until your hands glow. But think twice about shouting for more.

Updated: 11:04 Thursday, February 21, 2002