Chris Curtis: Sort Your Life Out (Optomen for BBC1)

“What if Marie Kondo was a reality star from East London?” was probably not the pitch question that landed Optomen a joyous BBC1 decluttering format – but I’d like to think so.

The X Factor/I’m a Celebrity/Loose Women star Stacey Solomon is a gloriously unlikely successor to Japan’s best clothes-folder, reinventing herself as a craft guru with an everyman touch.

The relentlessly upbeat Solomon leads Sort Your Life Out’s team of experts in transforming messy homes into calm oases, thanks to the ingenuity of carpenter Rob, the tough love and fierce commitment to order of the delightful Dilly, and a chap whose contribution always seems to be cleaning showerheads with vinegar. The show is old-fashioned, predictable and lovely.

The simple visual device of laying out every possession the family owns to demonstrate their excess works well, and the show draws gentle parallels between domestic order and mental health thanks to light-touch contributor back-stories that gently tug at heart strings.

Plus, it manages to say something about consumption and spending, and family dynamics without tipping over into worthiness or (too much) sentimentality.

Often, the root cause of all the disorder is the unremitting low-level chaos of everyday life, which feels very relatable. In the Curtis household SYLO is viewed almost exclusively during the wind-down hinterland between the kids falling asleep and a final furtive glance at work emails before bed.

There have obviously been braver, riskier, more exciting and provocative titles on British telly this year. But as we hurtle towards the period for new year resolutions, Sort Your Life Out has become a kind of middle-class fever dream of new beginnings.

Now I just need to hire an aircraft hanger in a bid to chuck out a few pairs of trainers.

• Chris Curtis is the editor in chief of Broadcast