New Year’s all sewn up
YES, a programme about people hand-making clothes really is what’s on primetime BBC1 on New Year’s Eve. Mind you, it’s no stranger than anything else that happened in 2020.
And we’re not complaining, this show was one of our lockdown highlights, and the fact it’s got seasonal celebrity specials and this plum slot only shows what faith the Beeb have in it as a feel good fun competition series, in the Bake Off mould.
Joe Lycett, inset, taking over from previous host Claudia Winkleman could have been a risky move, but it’s worked brilliantly. His theatricality, sarcasm and complete lack of haberdashery knowledge just ramps up the fun.
For this New Year’s
Eve special, for example, he starts off as a fortune-telling Joestradamus giving his predictions for 2021, serves cocktails halfway through, then ends it in a karaoke disco, dressed as an 80s backing singer, complete with mullet.
The four famous faces taking part are Birds of a Feather star Lesley Joseph, TV presenter and stylist Sabrina Grant, Drag Race winner The Vivienne and comic actor Sally Phillips. And there’s a suitably festive element to each challenge, as they’re asked to make a children’s party skirt, a pantomime costume and a show stopping cocktail dress.
Most of them have never sewed before, so there’s more than a few schoolgirl errors. And it’s not long before Lesley’s reaching for the gin, and then the Valium.
But there’s also some serious sewing successes and a whole load of pride in their creations.