It's amazing that this hasn't happened earlier, really. I mean, when you consider how many musicians have appeared on Later ...with Jools Holland over the years, it seems unbelievable that it took until 2008 for one of them - in this case, Elvis Costello - to go “Hang on a minute. I'm a top respected musician yet I'm just about to sweat my balls off on a 44-date tour of Europe to support an album that's probably going to shift only 15,000 copies.

“Old Honky Tonk Holland, on the other hand, is just the piano-player from Squeeze - yet all he has to do is a bit of left-hand roll while the Killers play live, and he gets a fat television contract, his name in the title, and first dibs to hang out with Bob Dylan, if and when the Bobster comes around. I need to get me one of these “Musicians-chatting-and-jamming-with-other-musicians” shows, too. I'm gonna pitch it to a network as soon as I get back to New York, where I now live with my wife, respected jazz singer Diana Krall, 44.”

And so Spectacle has appeared, made by the US arts cable channel Sundance. Jools - er, I mean Elvis - chats'n'jams with Elton John, Lou Reed, Herbie Hancock, Bill Clinton, James Taylor, Norah Jones and respected jazz singer Diana Krall, 44 - enjoying what is, astonishingly, the first-ever hour-long special dedicated to her jazziness, 44.

As some cunning graphics work in the title sequence makes clear, Spectacle has been called Spectacle because... Costello is famous for wearing glasses!!!Presumably, by this logic, Wogan should have been called Wig.

Puns or not, Spectacle is an odd programme. Kicking off with Costello chatting'n'jamming - “jatting”, perhaps, or “camming” - with the newly re-formed Police, it immediately reminds you that whenever musicians talk to each other, it's not in unintelligible Jazz Age drug slang, about the electric majesty of the ether. They just chat about The Apprentice, like everyone else.

This is borne out by Stewart Copeland of the Police, who repeatedly shouts “YOU'RE FIRED!” at Andy Summers and Sting, while laughing uproariously. That Summers and Sting do not laugh with him - Sting, very firmly, says “No, you're fired,” like a tired, tetchy mum - merely highlights the best thing about the Police, apart from Roxanne: Copeland and Sting used to fight a lot. Like hit each other and everything. After one fight with Sting, Copeland was legendarily supposed to have written “F***” “OFF” “YOU” “C***” on four of his drums, and then hit them particularly hard, while staring at Sting.

Perhaps mindful of this, Costello first interviews all three members of the band separately. When they do finally join each other on stage, and shake hands, it's notable that Copeland has put on gloves. “We're stuck with each other,” Copeland says, at the end of the hour. Copeland has a huge face. He looks like Donald Sutherland in a Scream mask. "Whatever I do, these guys will still be in my band."

"YOUR band?" Sting boggles, leaving unspoken the presumed addendum: "You're in MY band, you f***ing tom-tom-bashing monkey."

Costello doesn't make for a bad Jools Holland - given that Jools Holland is scientifically proven to be one of the worst interviewers in television history. Whereas 98 per cent of a Holland interview consists of him saying either a) “So, this lovely album - where did you record it?” or b) “So, without further ado, shall I now accompany you on the boogie-woogie piano?”, Costello makes a far greater effort. Indeed, the gigantic pile of notes on his lap - bigger, even, than the one the freaky bloke on In the Actor's Studio has - belies the fact he is one of the most intelligent songwriters we've ever had; and one that's certainly willing to do his homework. And he cuts a better jamming dash on Walking on the Moon than Holland ever could.

On the minus side, the vibe is odd. Everyone sits on a stage, in front of a huge American audience - the kind that break into slightly self-righteous applause when anyone mentions Bob Marley (“Bob! Wooo!”). The cutting is brutally choppy. And Costello can't help joining in and playing some of his own songs, too - which, despite his magnificent back-catalogue, does feel a little bit ... totally wanky. This is, perhaps, why Channel 4 have buried it in the schedules after midnight.

But, you know. Next week he's got Bill Clinton! And NO boogie-woogie! It's a definite improvement on the original.

Spectacle, Mon, Channel 4, 12.05am

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