There's nothing we relish more on our screens than Alan Sugar's grumpy Father Christmas face mouthing the words 'you're fired' with the foreboding Apprentice oboe tinkling along in the background.

Soo. Nicholas de Lacy-Brown was the first 'apprentice' to be crushed like an insolent beetle under Sugar's mighty foot. The caricature toff whose father valiantly "fought the hurdles of his working class upbringing to provide him with privileged education and luxury" might have done alright in his bar exam but in the end couldn't even get to grips with a bucket of fish.

Not quite the lord of the manor we had de Lacy-Brown for. Would a real life aristocrat ever misprice their favourite crustacean snack quite so wildly? We think not. Shameful schoolboy error Ninky poops.

Still, at least having a pop on the show made the budding aristocrat realise he never wanted to be Alan Sugar's snivvelling apprentice anyway. The legal whizz is happy as a pig in plop to be getting back to the courtroom, presumably to escape dull football chat - that mindless pastime of the lower orders.... Which Alan loves. Hey ho.

So class 'rifts' and nasty in bitching already - TA4 is everything we could have dreamed of and more. Alan Sugar reckons this is the juiciest series yet, and if kick off last night was anything to go by we're already gagging for the next installment - why is TV scheduling so damn stingy?!