Celebrity Television

Many years ago, a business acquaintance from Canada was spending a few days in the UK. Over dinner we were chatting about television and he told me that he had been glad to have the chance to catch up with a series he had heard about , but never seen. He was talking about “ Minder” , which needs no explanation to British audiences. The glorious , dodgy adventures of Arthur Daley, played by George Cole , and his world weary sidekick , Terry McCann , played by Dennis Waterman.

Terry and Arfur (sic) were/are legendary…but my friend told me that after watching an episode on his hotel TV , he didn’t “ get it”…

When I asked him what he meant , he said “ It’s just an old guy and a young guy hanging out…what’s funny about that ?”

I tried to persuade him otherwise , but he was immovable.

I’m afraid to say that this is how I have come to feel about almost any series with the word Celebrity in its title. It began with a growing reluctance , when comedians felt the urge to show us that they were actually real people who had other interests.

Whilst it is hard to criticise such performers for devoting some of their time to charitable works, I don’t really want to see them touring the country in camper vans , or touring other countries in steam trains, gliders or hopping backwards….

I’m not against travel shows , or the kind of reportage which highlights the quirkiness of the everyday world which surrounds us. I’d just rather see these presented by people of the ilk of Alan Whicker or Judith Chalmers who had a kind of legitimate claim to be interested in the subject matter.

If I’m supposed to think that the likes of Johnny Vegas or Alison Hammond reacting “ hilariously” to whatever they’ve been inserted into this week will make me feel they are ordinary people “having a go”on my behalf, producers really need to think again.

Good as they may be in their own areas of expertise, they are not ordinary people. Celebrities are a privileged class who no doubt work hard for their daily bread…but don’t expect me to feel any kind of empathy.Why TV companies should believe anyone would is a mystery to me. I simply don’t get it.