Celebrities line up to go on camping trip to remember
Celebrity 5 Go Camping
(Channel 5, tonight, 8pm)
EVEN now that Celebrity Big Brother is no more, the nation’s apparent obsession with stardriven series shows little sign of abating. Filling Channel 5’s new year gap of familiar faces in fishout-of-water scenarios is this strand.
Obviously many will recognise Michelle Collins, the former backing singer-turned-East-Enders veteran who achieved immortality as psycho Cindy Beale.
She went on to further soap fame in Coronation Street, and though her accent was a little erratic, that didn’t stop Weatherfield alter ego Stella Price winning the hearts of many during her three-year tenure on the cobbles.
These days Joe Swash may be best known as one of the I’m A Celebrity: Extra Camp team, who spends a few weeks every November and December waxing lyrical over who ate kangaroo bits with the most aplomb. However, back in the day, he was also a Walford regular.
He’s a cheeky, chatty kind of bloke who proved he could survive in the wild 10 years ago. Yes, he became King of the Jungle, but how will he get on closer to home as he tries to cope with in-tents shenanigans?
And if you think that gag’s bad, there’s bound to be others that are far worse as veteran funnyman Robert Christopher Nankeville, better known as Bobby Davro, also joins the party.
Fans with long memories may remember him from the TV series Copy Cats, and from his relatively short-lived turn as Vinnie Monks on a certain doomladen BBC soap.
Yes, Davro is another EastEnders veteran, though he’s spent far longer treading the boards in a series of hit pantos around the UK. Oh yes he has.
One of Bobby’s best assets is the fact he’s a great all-rounder, so if TV bosses are looking for a celeb capable of propping up Come Dine With Me, Your Face Sounds Familiar, or Dancing on Ice, then Bobby’s your man.
Another of the ‘famous’ faces is Stephen Bailey, the rising comedian who hasn’t been in EastEnders (yet),but did well on Channel 5’s Celebs on the Farm, and has been earning a crust on assorted other shows with ‘Celeb’ in the title.
The fun begins when the stars meet for breakfast in a hotel overlooking Poole Harbour in Dorset. With backpacks at the ready, they set off for their camping adventure.
Another TV regular is set to join them, but first they try to find their inaugural campsite, marked with an X on a map.
It’s not long before they’re lost on the Isle of Purbeck, but thankfully a bushcraft instructor is in the neighbourhood. He shows them how to make shelters from sticks and bracken, and create fire by rubbing sticks together.
An epic fail on both fronts alas, but at least some nearby wigwams give them a taste of camping.
The next morning, it’s Bobby’s 60th birthday and the gang want to make him breakfast.
Will they manage to rustle something up? Will final star camper Cheryl Baker put some fizz into the experience?
Well, that remains to be seen, but it should be a lot of fun finding out.