A striking reminder of the human cost of Syria’s war
In an era of fake news, the aphorism that truth is the first casualty of war has never been more correct, and nowhere more so than in the seven-year conflict in Syria. A lack of easily verifiable information in the early years of the war has morphed into a global propaganda battle played out on social media and echoed on the world stage.
In Syria: The World’s War
(BBC Two), Lyse Doucet attempted to provide an objective account of how we got here, and to put a human face on what for most is a distant war. But her measured approach at times left viewers with the challenge of working out whose version of the truth they believed.
Her gentle interrogation was frustrating, especially when a smirking Syrian foreign minister told us that his government has never detained innocent civilians.
We later saw him claim that the opposition was responsible for the 2013 sarin chemical attack on the rebel-held territory of Ghouta, a proposition that has taken hold among conspiracy theorists worldwide, and been repeated by Russia and the regime in the aftermath of the recent attack on Douma.
Where Doucet’s approach worked best was in the testimony from ordinary Syrians caught up in the war.
Noura, a young opposition activist who saw her friends tortured during six months spent in regime detention, and Hayat, a pro-regime journalist whose soldier son was killed in battle, provided insight into how the revolution quickly became a fight for survival.
I found myself sympathetic to both women. As Hayat put it, “Everyone in Syria has lost a house, a son.”
The recounting of the 2013 attack provided some of the most difficult viewing of the hour-long documentary, the bodies of small children strewn across a hospital floor.
“I saw them as children who were sleeping,” said a young Damascene who filmed the aftermath of the attack, which left hundreds dead.
Via an array of international players, including former foreign secretary William Hague and former US secretary of state John Kerry, Doucet charted the steps, and missteps, on the path to the current quagmire. She did not attempt to provide answers to Syria’s seemingly intractable problems, but this first instalment of her twopart programme (which concludes tonight), which ended on the pivotal sarin attack and the failed call for action by the Obama and Cameron governments, was a useful reminder of how things have spun out of control. Emma Gatten
Ever since Mary Berry classily declined to follow The Great British Bake Off when it moved from the BBC to Channel 4, the Corporation has kept the doyenne of dough busy. She has fronted two cookery series and another where she visited stately homes. Last night came Britain’s Best Home Cook (BBC One), Berry’s closest vehicle yet to the beloved cake-making contest.
This eight-week contest sees 10 home cooks compete to be crowned the country’s best. On your marks, get set, bake! Oops, wrong show. Cooking doesn’t get tougher than this! Sorry, that’s the other one.
Berry, as judge, was flanked by a Masterchef-esque pair of shouty young geezers: chef Dan Doherty and produce expert Chris Bavin (basically Gregg Wallace with hair). Three judges felt too many, with the trio frequently jostling to have their say.
Proceedings were hosted with quick wit by Claudia Winkleman, who gave hugs and high-fives as she bonded with the cooks. Winkleman and Berry quickly formed an affectionate double act – one that sounded like a firm of solicitors specialising in tailored black-trouser litigation.
The main problem was that this all felt wearingly familiar, from the generic title downwards. The format was Masterchef meets Bake Off. The cooks shared a house like a culinary take on The Apprentice or a better-fed Big Brother. Winkleman’s presence even gave it a whiff of Strictly Come Dancing. It was as if the creators had thrown a handful of existing hits into a blender, then poured the resultant mush onto our screens.
Such series often start shakily: there are too many contestants to invest in emotionally, characters are yet to emerge, the format still to bed in. On this evidence, though, Britain’s Best Home Cook was overdone, derivative and a TV cooking contest too far. Soggy bottom still to be confirmed. Michael Hogan
Syria: The World’s War ★★★★
Britain’s Best Home Cook ★★