JUSTINE O’MAHONY’S TV WEEK
NO SOONER has one crowd of lunatics left our screens than another crowd of even bigger lunatics take their place. Yes Celebrity Big Brother has begun folks you have been warned! Granted the term ‘Celebrity’ is something of a misnomer, because most of us have never heard of the majority of these nutters, but one thing is for sure - we’re not likely to forget them in a hurry!
Now in its new home at Channel 5 CBB is the kind of programme we like to lambast. After all it's cheap, it's tawdry, it exploits vulnerable people - it's pure car crash tv. And yet there is something compelling about it, however bad it is. Perhaps there's an element of ‘thank God I'm not that mad’ when you sit and watch the shenanigans of the inmates.
So this year we have boxing promoter Frank Maloney who has now decided he wants to be a woman and has come in as Kellie wearing a very bad wig, some even worse jumpers and keeps referring to himself/herself in the third person, ‘Frank wouldn't have put up with that. Frank would have flattened him.’ Well go be bloody Frank then, it sounds much more fun!
Then there’s 70 year old Gary Busey, Academy award nominated actor who starred in Point Break , Under Siege and Lethal Weapon. Busey was involved in a bad car accident a few years back which left him deaf and brain damaged. The guy doesn't appear to know who he is or where he is half the time and spends the rest of it unwittingly winding the others up with his abrasive manner.
Throw in pint sized American actor Leslie Jordan, the campest man in Hollywood, professional boxer Audley Harrison, James Jordan from Strictly Come Dancing, White Dee from Benefit Street (basically famous for scrounging off the government!) and you've got fireworks. Tune in if you want to feel perfectly normal! NO-ONE could have foreseen the impact this programme was to make, except maybe the progamme makers themselves. Educating Yorkshire based in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire at Thornhill Community Academy, was one of Channel 4's biggest hits last year.
One year on after the cameras withdrew from the school, they go back to check on pupils and staff alike. Last year Educating Yorkshire left a lasting impression on its viewers. it was uplifting, touching and hugely positive thanks to the dedicated staff at Thornhill and the relationships they built up with students.
The star of the show was undoubtedly Musharaf, a boy with a really bad stammer who could barely speak. With lots of time and effort outside of school hours, his English teacher Mr. Burton worked relentlessly to help him. Finally he makes a breakthrough by employing a technique used in the King's Speech to get Musharaf to speak whilst listening to music on his iphone. The result - Musharaf recites a Margaret Atwood poem with barely a stammer. It was incredible.
One year on and Musharaf is doing really well, thinking about college and looking for a part-time job. His stammer has improved immensely. Sheridan another pupil, who sat her maths exam five times, unfortunately failed again but Mr. Steer refuses to give up on her. School bully Georgia had become a mum and seemed to have finally calmed down whilst Jack was planning on pursuing a career in social work so that he can help other kids struggling with their emotions.
And for those of you who enjoyed the show as much as I did, this was just a little taste to whet your appetite because in coming weeks the programme makers will be moving to the east end of London to do exactly the same again.