The curious case of Gareth Malone's ginger beard Choirmaster Gareth Malone is much-loved for his fresh face, boundless enthusiasm and spirit-lifting crusade to get the nation crooning. Last night, though, his new series unveiled a Malone not quite as fresh-faced as usual. And viewers didn't seem to like it. On BBC Two's The Choir: Sing While You Work, Malone was sporting a beard that was distinctly ginger in hue. Had the boyish 37 year-old grown it in a bid to stop shop assistants asking him for ID? How come it was that reddish shade when the hair on his head is dark brown? Did the new facial furniture make him more or less attractive? Social networks lit up with such pressing questions. Beards have been all the rage for the past year or so, thanks to East London hipsters, indie bands, male models like the luxuriantly bearded Johnny Harrington, and film stars such as George Clooney, Jake Gyllenhall and Ben Affleck. We're also, of course, in the midst of "Movember" in which men grow moustaches for charity. On the streets of Britain, it's really rather hairy. On television, however, facial hair is a veritable minefield. When Newsnight pit bull Jeremy Paxman returned from his holidays in August with a silvery beard, it caused an instant Twitterstorm, prompted broadsheet thinkpieces and saw him compared to Old Man Steptoe or Uncle Albert on Only Fools And Horses. Paxman snappily described it all as "a storm in a shaving mug." Now Malone's new look has elicited a similar reaction. Are BBC Two viewers in particular prone to pognophobia? Get your heads round that, demographic experts. Other TV beards, by contrast, inspire a great deal of affection. See Mandy Patinkin's bushy grey number on Homeland, Bryan Cranston on boxset phenomenon Breaking Bad, or virtually the entire cast of Game of Thrones. Professor Karen Pine, a psychologist from the University of Hertfordshire, says: "Research does show that men with full beards are viewed as fatherly; it lends gravitas and tends to make them look older. But women find men with neatly-trimmed stubble or a clean-shaven look more attractive. So perhaps we like beards on actors because they add character, but not on presenters because they're distracting. A bit ... beardy-weirdy. Especially when the presenter in question is usually clean-shaven but suddenly pops up bearded, à la Malone and Paxman. There again, Paul Hollywood - judge on BBC Two's breakout hit The Great British Bake-Off - sports a silver fox goatee which women of a certain age seem to adore. Perhaps Hollywood could front a spin-off entitled The Great British Beard-Off. His fellow judge? Hairily-named historian Mary Beard, obviously. You can have that one for free, BBC commissioners.