SARAH VINE: Wonderful! (And all in the worst possible taste)

2023-03-25

SARAH VINE’S My TV Week: Wonderful! (And all in the worst possible taste)

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The Cleaner

Fridays, BBC1 and BBC iPlayer

Rating:

The first series of this darkly comic sitcom starring Greg Davies as a crime scene cleaner, the man you call to do the jobs no one else has the stomach to do, had a mixed reception with critics and viewers alike.

It was too quirky for some, too close to the bone in parts and also, I think, not quite what fans of Davies – probably best known for the Channel 4 game show Taskmaster (although in our house he is revered as Mr Gilbert, the teacher from The Inbetweeners) – might have expected.

I’m going to put my cards on the table and say I loved it, warts and all. It’s just my kind of thing, very much in the tradition of The Royle Family, Mum, Peep Show and other bittersweet, absurdist comedies of that ilk, where not an awful lot happens plotwise yet a great deal is understood about the actions and motives of the characters.

The first series of this darkly comic sitcom starring Greg Davies as a crime scene cleaner had a mixed reception with critics and viewers alike

It can be harsh, brutal and occasionally crass, with moments of slapstick verging on the grotesque. It pushes the boundaries of good taste to the limit, with results that are not so much funny ha-ha as funny odd. And much of the comedy comes from tragedy.

Wicky – Davies’s character – inhabits a world of sadness and loss, mopping up the messes of people’s failed lives while struggling to make sense of his own. It’s not always the easiest of watches, but the underlying bleakness somehow intensifies the comedy.

The first series was notable for its stellar guests, from Helena Bonham Carter to David Mitchell. This second series kicks off with top thespian Dame Harriet Walter as a craggy, chain-smoking, whisky-swilling pub landlady whose (much younger) lover has been splattered over her pool table.

This week TV fan Sarah Vine (pictured) has been watching Greg Davies’ new comedy

Other famous faces to feature include Simon Callow, Zoe Wanamaker and Asim Chaudhry.

The calibre of co-stars is confirmation not only of the quality of the writing, but also of the unusually theatrical nature of this show. Yes, it’s a sitcom format, with recurring characters (namely Zita Sattar, who reprises the role of Sergeant Ruth Edwards) but it could easily be seen as a series of short two-hander plays, with the action focused on single locations – a house, a basement, a pub.

Here, Walter arrives just as Wicky is using one of the deceased’s severed ears as a plectrum for his air guitar during an animated rendition of Iron Maiden’s Bring Your Daughter… To The Slaughter (I told you it was tasteless).

Nonplussed, she offers him a beer and they embark on a funny, sad and touching meditation on life, love and self-esteem. Wonderful. Just don’t watch it over dinner.

ANNEKA NEEDS A NEW CHALLENGE…HERE IT IS

Challenge Anneka

Saturdays, Channel 5 and My5

Rating:

Race across the world

Wednesdays, BBC1 and BBC iPlayer

Rating:

Challenge Anneka was appointment-to-view TV and so different from anything that came before it

It’s fair to say shows like Race Across The World – in which five teams of two compete in a sort of mega Duke of Edinburgh challenge – owe a lot to Anneka Rice and her iconic 90s show

It’s fair to say shows like Race Across The World – in which five teams of two compete in a sort of mega Duke of Edinburgh challenge – owe a lot to Anneka Rice and her iconic 90s show.

Challenge Anneka was appointment-to-view TV and so different from anything that came before it. Rice was dynamite, all silky blonde hair, cut-glass vowels and bags of enthusiasm, plus she looked excellent in a boiler suit.

None of that has changed, but I’m not sure Challenge Anneka isn’t one of those shows best left on a shelf marked ‘nostalgia’. This remake feels knowingly retro for me, as though all the producers thought they had to do was dust off the original format and bingo. But given how reality TV has moved on, it’s not enough.

She’d have been better off presenting Race Across The World, which could do with an anchor. The teams must travel 16,000km in Canada without smartphones or credit cards and a finite amount of cash, in pursuit of a £20,000 prize for finishing first.

It’s the personal journeys that make it interesting – a father is trying to teach his spoilt daughter about the real world; one girl is coming to terms with losing her sight. All this while traversing a country where hitchhiking’s illegal (who knew?) and without modern accoutrements. If only they had Rice to help them…

You’re fired, Lord Sugar

Series 17 of The Apprentice (BBC iPlayer) drew to a close last week – but Sarah isn’t convinced by the latest series

Series 17 of The Apprentice (BBC iPlayer) drew to a close last week, not so much with a bang as a gentle sigh of relief all round.

I can’t help feeling that, while great in its day, it’s time Lord Sugar’s worn-out format was put out to pasture, alongside other similarly threadbare shows such as MasterChef and Bake Off (although maybe the appointment of Alison Hammond as the new Bake Off co-host will inject some jam into that slightly stale doughnut).

Then again, you look at the likes of Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr and slightly despair. Is the whole challenge show rollercoaster finally grinding to a shuddering halt?

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