Fighting for our rights
JOE LYCETT’S GOT YOUR BACK Channel 4, 8pm
WHEN comedian Joe Lycett entered into a correspondence with a council over a parking fine, he couldn’t have guessed it would lead to a whole new career. Or perhaps he could.
The funnyman, who can also currently be found hosting The Great British Sewing Bee on BBC1, jokes: “My grand plan was to get a parking fine in York, contest it with a series of increasingly absurd emails, perform it on Cats Does Countdown and use its success to convince Channel 4 to give me a consumer show. It worked.”
But even if it was a happy accident, over the course of two series of Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back, he has discovered that his approach to championing consumer rights gets results.
Joe says: “At first, I thought it was just fun to make a funny version of Watchdog, but it’s become apparent with some of the stories that using humour is actually really effective in getting companies to listen up and change their ways.
“It’s a bit embarrassing for a company to be exposed for wrongdoing, but it’s really embarrassing if it’s done by making them the butt of a joke.”
Perhaps Joe’s method of dealing with companies may be partly down to the fact that he doesn’t really like confrontation, although he says it’s something he’s getting better at.
He explains: “I’m so British and polite that creating a scene or being confrontational is so not my vibe. But [sidekick] Mark Silcox said to me that you basically have to suspend reality on this show, and I’ve found that really helpful. As the series goes on, I think I get more courageous. But I still find it absolutely terrifying!”
So, it’s good that he’s got Mark and some celebrity helpers to share the load.
This week, he’s joined by Alison Hammond who will be helping him find out if an online review site is as trustworthy as it seems.
Joe also takes aim at a paintballing company’s dubious practices and recruits help from a mini-me to take on Google Play Store. And Mark puts high-street bags for life to the test.