A round of applause for the ‘stars of Covid-19’
On day 75 of lockdown, Rosa Silverman salutes the new national treasures keeping us entertained
There’s no denying lockdown has been a test of endurance. Marooned at home, away from friends, family and hairdressers, we’ve been forced to discover new interests: gardening, baking sourdough and spying on the neighbours to check if they’re breaking the rules.
We’ve also devoted much time to skills we’d already perfected: surfing the internet in our underwear and watching television con vino. Lucky for us that during this difficult period, many have stepped up to the plate to keep us entertained and buoyed up. They haven’t received any Thursday night rounds of applause. But that doesn’t mean we’re not silently clapping for them, day in and day out, in our heads.
There are too many to mention here, but below are a few of the stars who have been a great source of lockdown cheer…
Daisy May Cooper
Series 3 of This Country arrived at an opportune moment. Dropping on the BBC’S iplayer not long before the country shut down, the superb Cotswold-based mockumentary reminded us we weren’t actually missing that much on the outside. But it’s inimitable star, Daisy May Cooper, has gone above and beyond in the service of making us laugh in dark times. Videos she posts of herself on Tiktok and Instagram showcase her dance moves to a range of incongruous soundtracks: The X-files theme tune (complete with a colander on her head, of course, because how could you do it without?); the musical intro to Channel 4 News; the Eastenders theme, and so on. We also never knew how great was our need for a dramatic musical rendition of the 20-year-old novelty hit Thong
Song. Watch out for the moment she accidentally steps on a stray piece of Playmobil mid-routine.
Paul Mescal
The BBC adaptation of Sally Rooney’s story of young love, Normal People, could also not have come at a better time. Nor could its co-star Paul Mescal, who swiftly garnered “Colin-firth’s-mr-darcy-emergingfrom-lake-in-wet-shirt” levels of lust, by virtue of being sensitive, sporty and somewhat buff. And Irish. And tall. And beautiful. And did we mention how buff he is? The sheer volume of swooning by a nation of locked-down women shot right off the scale. Even the chain Mescal’s character, Connell, wore around his neck through the series had its own Instagram account.
Meggie Foster
We’re big fans of Foster, but for different reasons. The actress and voice artist’s lip sync satires of politicians’ and broadcasters’ exchanges, filmed at home, are every bit as worth tuning into as the Government’s daily briefings. Highlights include “Dr Rosena Allin-khan vs. Matt
Hancock ft. James O’brien”, “Treats with Truss” and “I Feel Priti”. Thanks to her stream of stellar output, her Twitter following has grown to well over 86,000. We say: thank you for helping us imagine our elected representatives making their points while sipping rosé or sitting on their beds clutching teddies.
Joe Wicks
When schools shut down in March, the self-styled Body Coach turned himself into the nation’s PE teacher, with a daily keep fit class for kids on his popular Youtube channel. The nation voted with its feet – and its biceps and quads, and all those other parts of our bodies we had never even felt sensation in until the fitness industry’s answer to Russell
Brand woke them up. Other nations joined in, and before long millions of families from all over the world were tuning in to exercise along with the Epsom-born father-of-two in their living rooms. Occasional cameos from his cute children and wife help take your mind off the fact that you’re struggling with a workout designed for young kids. It also helps when he throws in a general knowledge quiz, because even if you can’t do squat jumps, at least you know the capital of
France.
Andrew Cotter
What does a sports commentator do when there isn’t any sport on which to commentate? Easy: he finds another subject. By overlaying sports-style commentary onto footage of his dogs going about their daily routines, Andrew
Cotter has proved what many of us suspected all along: that you can make the silliest of activities look serious by adopting the right tone and jargon. Because really, when you think about it, is a dog chasing a bird in the garden really any lesser a pursuit than people hitting golf balls across large areas of grass? “Perfect conditions for dog and bird, those old rivals, to come together again,” Cotter intones with deadpan sincerity. Perhaps we needn’t bring actual sports back after all.
Grayson and Philippa Perry
A surprise ratings hit for Channel 4 during lockdown, Grayson’s Art Club was perfect lockdown television: an hour a week in which our newfound interest in crafts was celebrated and encouraged, with Grayson acting as a sort of shambolic shaman figure. Every episode was filled with tender interviews, genuinely helpful creative advice and a palette-load of optimism. It also offered a window on the touching interactions of a bohemian couple in their early 60s, who still seem to like each other even after 30 years together. Truly amazing scenes, especially when viewed by anyone who has spent their lockdown arguing with their partner about why they keep putting incorrect items in the composting bin. (“That won’t biodegrade, babe, it just won’t, and if you think it will then I don’t know if we can stay together.” Or does this only happen in our house?) It turns out the answer is art. It’s very mindful, you know, and the Perrys’ efforts to bring it into our homes have earned them national treasure status.
Tomasz Schafernaker
Apart from homespun art projects, curtain-twitching and screen time, the only thing that has kept us all going these past 12 weeks has been the weather. “This must be the sunniest spring in Britain since the beginning of time,” we exclaimed day after day, and it turned out we were actually right for once. And who better to deliver the repeated promises of even more sunshine to come than the BBC meteorologist Tomasz Schafernaker? No, we know he doesn’t decide what the weather is going to be, but we like him for bringing us slivers of good news amid the gloom. We have, meanwhile, worked ourselves into a frenzy over the fact that, like us, he has no access to a barber. Regular viewers will have enjoyed the evolution of his barnet from relatively tamed to “highland cow” levels of dishevelment.
Granted, it doesn’t take much to work us into a frenzy these days.