The BBC’s recapture of the rights to Formula One brings Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain back to the grid for 2009, ITV not having found a theme tune that could get near it. Whether Murray Walker should return as well, in a tear-inducing home run for nostalgia, is a more open question.

Having pioneered the “trousers on fire” school of sports commentating, Walker is still, seven years after his official retirement, recognised as the voice of his sport and is only marginally less famous, globally, than Fleetwood Mac. Nevertheless, those noisily urging the BBC to entice the 84-year-old out of his garage for a few more laps perhaps forget how error-strewn his handling had become in those last months.

Beyond Walker, it’s a narrow field. On ITV, the task of following him went to James Allen, who has coped cheerfully. But unless Allen makes himself indispensable to the sport during the rest of the 2008 season, the BBC may make a fresh start in the quest for “a new Murray”. The leading candidates would include David Croft, who commentates on Formula One for Radio 5 Live, and Ben Edwards, who did Formula One for Eurosport until 1996 and works on the A1 Grand Prix.

Inviting Martin Brundle — the greatest TV analyst in this or any other sport — to recross the divide is, surely, a no-brainer. But with Richard Hammond, a Top Gear presenter, slated to come in as front man, there could be no way back for the eerily smiling Steve Rider, who followed Formula One to ITV.

But whatever happens personnel-wise, what most viewers will celebrate is a return to coverage that is live and uninterrupted. More than ten years on, the advertisement breaks are still the cause of bitterness and resentment. The contractual necessity to step away from the action and sell shaving foam meant that ITV was technically absent when Lewis Hamilton ground to a halt in Brazil in 2007.

Most notoriously, during the San Marino Grand Prix of 2005, when Michael Schumacher was clinging to the exhaust pipe of Fernando Alonso with three laps to go, ITV went to commercials. It was felt that the broadcaster couldn’t have slashed the tension more efficiently if it had gone back to the studio for a song from Jim Rosenthal.

By coincidence, having weathered some flat years, Hamilton last year reinvigorated domestic interest. To lose Formula One rights now is a nasty shunt for the ITV team, but few viewers who love the sport will mind unduly. Fleetwood Mac? No ads? What’s not to like?