PITY the poor celebrity come winter. While the rest of us are entering hibernation, either by choice or government diktat, they have to go out and earn a crust. Baby, whether it’s Strictly or newcomer Don’t Rock the Boat (STV, Monday-Friday) it can be cold outside. And that’s before we even get to the soon-to-arrive I’m a Celebrity, now relocated from the Australian jungle to chilly old Wales.
The challenge for the 12 celebrities – and I use the term as loosely as possible – was to row from Land’s End to John O’Groats. It was a big ask, huge considering they were doing so after just a fortnight’s training. Sure enough, it did not take long for them to start entertaining thoughts of waterboarding the agents who got them into this caper.
Vomiting, exhaustion, aching limbs, host Freddie Flintoff (him again) quipping his way through the commentary; there seemed no end to the suffering the damp dozen were put through. There ought to be a law against treating celebs this way. Let us hope they never hear about it.
The hardiest competitors chose to look on the bright side, with Craig Charles, a 56-year-old smoker and drinker, concluding that if the marathon rowing challenge did not kill him it might just save his life. That’s reality TV for you.
Being Frank: The Frank Gardner Story (BBC2, Thursday) lived up to the promise in its title, or as near as it could. The BBC’s security correspondent was shot six times by al-Qaeda in Riyadh in 2004. The cameraman, Simon Cumbers, died; Gardner was left paralysed.
Now 16 years on, he was commendably matter of fact about the practicalities of living with a disability, including changing a colostomy bag and emptying a catheter, both of which he showed on camera.
What he had not fully come to terms with was the emotional impact of suddenly becoming disabled. Had he grieved enough, or indeed at all, for the future that he thought lay ahead of him?
His motivation for making the film was meeting a new partner. Before he could introduce her he talked us through his old life, from the career switch into journalism from banking right up to the fateful day and immediately after. As he revisited the hospital ward in which he lay after being flown out of Saudi Arabia he had a rare wobble, remembering how close he had come to death and the reaction of his family.
There was one person who was very much part of the Gardner story but was not interviewed: his former wife of 22 years. He paid tribute to her several times, acknowledging the central part she had played in putting his life together again.
Her absence was notable but did not matter too much as Gardner, in one of several interviews with recently disabled people, touched on the toll it could take on partners. Although his new relationship had been his motivation for making the piece, this part turned out to be the film’s least interesting aspect.
Two things stuck in the mind: Gardner has an extremely nice flat; and some of his able-bodied BBC colleagues could do with taking the stairs more, as we saw when he was trying to get to a studio to do a live interview but every lift was full. Not one person exited to give him a space. Poor show on their part, but fascinating documentary.
As was Deliveroo: Secrets of Your Takeaway (Channel 4, Monday), even if it did not seem that enticing at first glance. But this behind the scenes look at the food delivery service and some of the restaurants who have linked up with it proved to be more a tale about business ingenuity, survival, and the hell on bicycle wheels that was the first lockdown.
We learned a lot about the UK’s eating habits besides. Did you know, for instance, that Glaswegians order the hottest curries in the UK, bananas are a big hit in Aberdeen, and sales of ice cream jumped 412% in the spring.? And that was just my house.
As is the way with such films, there was a lot of good PR here for Deliveroo and not much in the way of criticism. One courier, a student earning £10 an hour, said in general that the gig economy had its critics, and it was pointed out that delivery staff were self-employed with no sick pay or employment rights. On the whole, though, I would imagine there was much downloading of the app after watching this. One thing I was ravenous to know but which was not answered: how hot was the food when it arrived?
Life (BBC, Tuesday) finally came to a soggy close. It was unbelievable to the end, and not in a good way, particularly when the ghost that had been haunting one character began to do the same with another. How does that work?
At the end there was even a mad dash, rom-com style, though this one was to stop a bus rather than prevent someone getting on a plane.
The lurch downmarket rather suited Life, which had the look and feel of a very expensive afternoon
soap. RIP Life.
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