KATHY Burke is not your average documentary maker. She does a lot of effing and jeffing on camera for a start. Then there are the endless demands for cups of tea from her interviewees (surely it is up to her to keep them sweet?) And did I mention she once picked up the best actress award at Cannes?
You can learn all this and much more from Kathy Burke: Money Talks (Channel 4, Monday, 10pm). In it, the actor-director famous for Nil By Mouth (the Cannes winner), Gimme Gimme Gimme, and Harry Enfield and Chums sets out to discover who is really better off, those with money or those without. If the answer is rather obvious, there is many an interesting highway and byway explored along the way. What Burke does have in common with the finest documentary makers is that she is able to get the best out of people.
The film is in two one-hour parts, simply titled “rich” and “poor” (“poor” will go on All 4 immediately after). Her first stop is Surrey and a visit to Alfie Best, who made his money (£340 million give or take) from caravan parks. Between the stream of luxury cars in his driveway, his huge house and his helicopter, it is fair to say that Mr Best is a flash sort of chap. Yet he still works hard, and for one reason above all others: he is terrified of being poor again. Having grown up in a Romany family with nothing, he knows more than most what poverty feels like.
Burke clicks with him right away, although she is not too impressed by the massive piles of cushions on the beds, hotel style. “Oh for ****’s sake, man!”
As the film goes on we learn more about Burke’s background. Her mother died when Kathy was just a baby. She grew up in London with her two brothers and dad, getting help from social workers along the way. One in particular changed her life by taking her to museums and galleries and generally opening the door to the arts for her. Burke’s talent took care of the rest, though she insists luck played a part as well.
She is introduced to the new ways of making money on a visit to some social influencers. They might have millions of followers, and can earn upwards of £100,000 for endorsements, but do they have fresh milk in the fridge for a cup of tea?
Burke’s definition of rich is having everything you need with money in the bank besides. By that standards she reckons to have been rich since the age of 25 (she is 57 now).
She does not have a problem with people being rich; what she cannot stand, though, is people looking down on the poor. The current UK Government duly gets it in the neck.
“Not one of them have got a clue what it is like to be poor,” she says.
She meets the author of a memoir about being a single mother living in poverty. Both agree on their dislike of stereotypes. But hang on, wasn’t Burke Waynetta Slob to Harry Enfield’s Wayne? She addresses that too, with the help of none other than Enfield (and Paul Whitehouse).
While she won’t say how much she earns or has in the bank (quite right too), she is commendably open to other points of view, unless you are a Government Minister of course.
At the British Academy Television Awards this year there were many young newcomers among the victors. But when the best features programme was announced the prize went to small screen veteran Long Lost Family (STV, Monday, 9pm), now back for an incredible 11th series.
No surprise really why it won, though it was up against strong contenders including Mortimer and Whitehose: Gone Fishing. The programme that reunites loved ones has it all: empathetic presenters in Nicky Campbell and Davina McCall, an ace production team that refuses to take impossible for an answer, and above all, great stories.
The series begins with the story of Dominic Matteo. The ex- Scotland and Liverpool player grew up knowing he was adopted but he felt no need to trace his birth parents lest it upset his mum and dad. Being struck by sudden illness was a reminder that life was too short for doubts, and the Long Lost team got to work.
There will be tears, there usually is on Long Lost Family, but it never feels manipulative. If people don’t want their first meeting to be on camera they are given privacy. One small touch among many that means so much to those involved. It is typical of the care taken by the production team, and an example for others to follow.
If you need a break from the increasingly fraught tennis (it’s never the easy way with our Andy, is it?) I can recommend spending an hour with RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival (BBC2, Wednesday, 9pm). And relax ...
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