IAN HYLAND on last night’s telly
Australia With Julia Bradbury, ITV:
Ever since ITV’S top cat done a whoopsie on the floor by suggesting he was killing off sitcoms his comedy underlings have been furiously trying to row back on his comments.
I admire their bravery and optimism. However, their task was brought squarely into focus by the programme that appeared in the very slot Birds Of A Feather occupied before being grounded.
I mean, I suppose the drag queens Julia Bradbury met in a Sydney nightclub were kind of keeping alive the memory of Dorien Green.
However, this programme wasn’t just Australia With Julia Bradbury. It was Australia With
Julia Bradbury And Qantas. We can but wonder exactly how much input/control the airline had.
However, given we were informed of their involvement four times in the space of 30 minutes I’d say the line between travel documentary and half-hour advert has rarely looked thinner.
That’s ITV’S commercial prerogative, of course – but while cheap and easy fillers such as this are an option I can’t see them spending time and money developing sitcoms. The sad thing is this was such uninspiring, bog standard travel fare I didn’t even
feel guilty for laughing when Julia’s Bondi Beach trip was ruined by a downpour.
Admittedly, the pace did pick up when she met up with the drag queens, who were preparing to be judged by their painted peers in an annual beauty contest.
“You won’t find a judging panel like this on The X Factor,” Julia remarked.
She clearly didn’t notice how much face powder Simon Cowell got through on last year’s show.
This was such uninspiring bog standard travel fare I didn’t feel guilty laughing when Julia’s Bondi Beach trip was ruined by a downpour