TV Review: ROOF RACKS & HATCHBACKS: THE FAMILY CAR + SECOND CHANCE SUMMER + ALONE WITH THE IN-LAWS

This article was originally published in The Dundee Courier on 8 April 2017.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/category/lifestyle/entertainment/tv-film/

ROOF RACKS AND HATCHBACKS: THE FAMILY CAR: Monday, BBC Four

SECOND CHANCE SUMMER: Wednesday, BBC Two

ALONE WITH THE IN-LAWS: Thursday, BBC Two

I’d normally rather hurl myself bodily off Beachy Head than watch a programme about automobiles, but ROOF RACKS AND HATCHBACKS: THE FAMILY CAR managed to transform that dreariest of subjects into a charming piece of social history.

Part of the reliable Timeshift strand, it was a typically droll, affectionate, well-researched documentary steeped in evocative archive footage.

Most of us have fond childhood memories of time spent in the family car, especially during those long journeys en route to unimaginably exciting British holiday destinations (or even – gasp! – abroad, if your parents could afford such unseemly displays of wealth).

This nostalgic essay traced the post-war evolution of these four-wheeled tools of liberation. I was particularly taken with the chapter on the Ford Cortina, that must-have ‘70s car of choice craftily named after an Italian ski resort to maximise its exotic appeal. ‘Cortina’ actually means ‘curtain’ in Italian, but at least it sounded glamorous. I pray there was once a failed Mediterranean equivalent called the Fiat Sideboard.

Like almost every aspect of British history, this saga boiled down to class and status. Short of paving your children in gold, how better to lord it over the neighbours than with a shiny Austin Allegro in your driveway?  

Speaking of class, SECOND CHANCE SUMMER is a reality show for BBC viewers who wouldn’t be caught dead watching Big Brother and its brethren: I’m a Sunday Times Subscriber, Get Me Out of Here.

Produced by the brains behind The Real Marigold Hotel, it’s a similarly aspirational fantasy in which ten strangers – real people this time, the likes of Biggins aren’t welcome – attempt to build new lives at an idyllic Tuscan farmhouse.

The winners, i.e. anyone who can still stand the sight of each other by the end, will get the opportunity to buy the entire complex.

For various reasons, the participants are all struggling with middle-aged malaise. It should, in theory, be a thoughtful study of human nature, but the results are painfully boring.

I’m not saying that I necessarily want to watch a programme in which a bunch of dreary middle-class grey-hairs descend into a horrifying spiral of Lord of the Flies insanity, but after a tastefully scenic hour of mild passive-aggression I was longing for someone to drink the wine cellar dry and charge into a canyon on the back of a wild boar.

Oh well, there’s always episode two.

Everyone has a story to tell. But that doesn’t mean every story must be televised. Like Second Chance Summer, ALONE WITH THE IN-LAWS squandered a potentially interesting premise on dull people.

A young couple on the verge of marriage spent four days apart with their respective in-laws, the idea being that they’d gain a deeper understanding of each other by exploring where they came from.

He was a creature of habit with happily married parents. The child of divorcees, she was more spontaneous. Despite these seemingly insurmountable differences, they loved each other by the end just as much as they did at the start. Great. Good for them.

This barely watchable experiment was produced by the makers of Wife Swap, and signalled a return to that show’s roots as a more or less serious – albeit voyeuristic – unpicking of the ties that bind. But Wife Swap was never this beige.

There’s a kernel of a good idea here, but the subjects need to be more forthcoming. Otherwise it’s like scrolling blankly through the FaceBook feed of complete strangers.  

TV Review: THE NEW GYPSY KINGS + BORN ON THE SAME DAY

This article was originally published in The Dundee Courier on 18th June 2016.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/category/lifestyle/entertainment/tv-film/

This World: The New Gypsy Kings: Thursday, BBC Two

Born on the Same Day: Tuesday, Channel 4

When one thinks of traditional European gypsies, the word “bling” doesn’t readily leap to mind.

80% of Romanian Gypsies live below the poverty line. Unemployment is almost universal. And yet, as seen in This World: The New Gypsy Kings, in recent years a flashy new genre of Gypsy pop has swept the nation.

Called manele, it’s a kind of commercial electro-folk music glorifying material wealth and hedonism. Despite its popularity, manele has attracted fierce criticism from within the Roma community for its moral bankruptcy and overt links to organised crime.

But is it all bad? Director Liviu Tipurita, who’s been making documentaries about Romanian gypsies for many years, tried to find out by delving into a bleak, strange, murky world of prejudice, violence, people trafficking and even witchcraft, where a career in music is one of the few ways of escaping from poverty.

On a more positive note, Tipurita showed how, in the last 20 years, successful Gypsy musicians have ploughed their earnings into building houses and schools for poor communities which were once without basic sanitation. But those musicians are devoted to traditional gypsy music and values; Manele performers are primarily concerned with their own booming bank balance.

We were introduced to mansion-dwelling superstars who openly boast of mafia connections, plus Romania’s answer to Simon Cowell – a mogul known as Dan the Badger – and a shady businessman married to “one of the world’s most powerful witches”. She’s currently in prison for bribing a judge. All Tipurita had to do was switch on his camera to capture an endless cavalcade of weirdness.

As far as Dan the Badger is concerned, the manele lifestyle is something for Gypsies to aspire to. He sees himself as an inspirational figure. In a way, he is. After all, during the brutal reign of Ceausescu, Romanian Gypsies weren’t even recognised as an ethnic minority. Only in the last 30 years, in the wake of revolt and Ceausescu’s execution, has their culture been widely celebrated.

But let’s not get carried away. One of manele’s originators served nine years in prison for attacking a policeman with a Samurai sword. The music blatantly glorifies gangsterism. For the most part, Tipurita’s eye-opening film resembled an Eastern European version of The Godfather. The entire movement is funded by criminality.

He didn’t need to labour the point that these shameless capitalists are drowning in dubious money while half the country starves. The sombre truth was self-evident.

Some TV concepts are so simple yet effective, you wonder why they weren’t exploited sooner. Born on the Same Day is one such beast.

Take a random date from history – in the case of this opening episode, 7^th March 1944 – and trace the life of a notable figure born on that day. So far, so History Channel. But here’s the neat little twist: to illustrate that all lives are extraordinary, you then tell the stories of lesser-known people born within the same 24 hours.

It began with famed explorer Ranulph Fiennes. A remarkable man, but the show’s emotional heft sprang from Ewart and Frances. 

A first-generation Jamaican immigrant, Ewart’s story encompassed decades of racism. And yet he’s never let it define him. 

Meanwhile, Frances suffered third-degree burns as a child. She went on to foster and adopt sick children. A kinder woman you’d be hard-pressed to meet.

A winning format, it’s a fine, sincere and moving piece of social history.