The Circle
CHANNEL 4, 9.15PM
You have to give credit to Channel 4: no other broadcaster has returned so frequently to the concept of the “bold new reality series”, undaunted by the mixed returns the genre has increasingly delivered. This latest tilt, presented by Radio 1 DJS Alice Levine and Maya Jama, has a premise that is both neat and tinged with potential disaster: a group of contestants move into separate apartments in a single block and create identities from scratch using only social media. “Anyone can be anyone,” the trailers promises, and the idea of online fakery, artifice and hype is undeniably zeitgeisty, albeit one most likely to be played for laughs here. Either way, it’s sure to set tongues wagging.
Currying favour is the name of the game, as the participants never actually meet and reveal whatever information they wish while chatting, flirting and competing against each other only through a voice-activated platform. The players then rate each other throughout the series: the people deemed least popular are “blocked” from the game, while the one accumulating the most likes is in with the chance of winning £50,000. Running every night this week and on into next week, it’s an intriguing prospect. Gabriel Tate