Middle-aged male chitchat stuck firmly in a low gear
During the pandemic, my husband became a cyclist. It started small: bike rides to the park with the kids. Then, the purchase of a more expensive bike. Now we’ve reached the stage at which he thinks padded leggings are an acceptable alternative to trousers. If your spouse expresses a casual interest in cycling, do bear the above in mind. It’s a slippery slope.
Along for the Ride with David O’doherty (Channel 4) also featured middle-aged men on bikes. O’doherty, a genial comedian, embarks upon a different trip each week, in the company of a minor celebrity. In this case it was fellow comic Richard Ayoade, the pair of them travelling from Winchelsea in East Sussex to Dungeness in Kent.
Your enjoyment of this episode will have largely depended on whether you like Ayoade’s brand of deadpan, dorky humour, and the fact that his act is one long audition for a Wes Anderson film (he was carefully coordinated here in varying shades of mustard).
It’s amiable stuff and watching them pootle along is quite a relaxing experience. Every so often, they’ll have a mildly amusing exchange. But you can’t escape the feeling that it’s a poor man’s version of Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing. In that show, two comedians joke around but manage to address life’s big subjects with emotional honesty. Here, O’doherty suggested at the start that Ayoade might be aloof and unwilling to answer questions, but the only questions he asked him were about his favourite television show, whether he grew up in the centre or suburbs of Ipswich, and if he could play Toto’s Africa on a whistle lolly.
Ayoade is better when delivering his own comic observations, including his disdain for glamping (which had turned during the pandemic “from an affectation into a necessity”). O’doherty was excited to pick blackberries, pointing out that they cost a packet in the shops but were free in the countryside. “They taste free,” said Ayoade, spitting one out.
The weakest element was the travel. They visited “the picture perfect village of Appledore” but we barely saw it. They stared at St Thomas à Becket church on Romney Marsh from a distance but didn’t get up close. An image of a Dungeness cottage whizzed by, without anyone noting it was the former home of Derek Jarman. We did get a sense of the weirdness of Dungeness at the end, but that was thanks to the drone footage rather than anything the comedians had to offer.
Had you heard of AJ Odudu before she appeared on Strictly Come Dancing? I confess that I hadn’t, even though she’s got more than a decade of programmes under her belt. And she’s not someone you’d forget, with that megawatt personality and the strongest Lancashire accent this side of Paddy Mcguinness.
Now she’s having a moment, thanks to Strictly. She’s unlikely to win it, because she falls into the category of contestants who start off so well that there isn’t room for improvement. Strictly viewers like a journey. But I’m sure her agent is fielding plenty of offers, so expect to see her presenting more prominent shows.
In the meantime, we have Emma and AJ Get to Work, tucked away on the W channel. The Emma is Emma Willis, and the idea is that the pair go out to help family businesses get back on their feet after Covid. In this first episode, they visited Mumbles Pier in Swansea. It is owned by brothers Fred and Bert Bollom, whose grandfather bought it in the 1930s.
Running a tourist attraction last year was an “absolute disaster”, the Bolloms said, as you can well imagine. On top of that, the Victorian pier is in need of restoration. So what were Willis and Odudu going to do about it?
Well, the problem here is that the pair have no particular skills. Where Mary Portas overhauled businesses and DIY SOS upgrades the bricks and mortar, Willis and Odudu have nothing but their sunny personalities and willingness to pitch in. So they jet-washed the railings, put up some bunting, worked in the fish and chip shop, and judged a sandcastle competition. They did all this with genuine good cheer, even when the weather threatened to make the grand opening a washout. The pair are friends (they worked together on Big Brother) and have an easy camaraderie.
It’s another of those programmes that tries to inject a sense of jeopardy (they only have three days, the launch has to be a success or else) but is really just an hour of free advertising for a business. And it’s pretty effective – if I’m ever in this corner of Wales, I’ll pay Mumbles Pier a visit.
Along for the Ride ★★★ Emma and AJ Get to Work ★★