A rollicking reminder of why Wife Swap was so addictive
Traditional topics not to discuss at the dinner table are sex, money, politics and religion. After the Wife Swap: Brexit Special (Channel 4), we can safely add EU membership to the list. The Noughties spouse-switching series was always a combustible format. So what happened when they took on such an incendiary theme as Brexit? Could leavers and remainers live in harmony?
Canvey Island barmaid and Nigel Farage fan Pauline Edwards spent a week in the life of Nottinghamshire psychotherapist and Green party councillor Kat Boettge. This included tending Kat’s turkeys (“Even the black one’s pretty,” said Pauline, somehow straight-faced) and hosting a dinner party for Kat’s friends, where conversation quickly turned to whether leave voters are racist.
German-born Kat went the other way and tried to reason with Pauline’s pitbullish husband Andy (clearly the producers were looking for stereotypes on this side of the debate). Such scenes were dispiritingly eye-opening about how ill-informed some Leave voters were. “You’ve got facts, I haven’t,” he eventually conceded. Andy also failed to notice the irony of his reliance on codeuropean phrases, such as “que sera sera” and “uno momento”.
Kat soon put Andy’s tabloid paper in the dog’s litter tray and replaced his St George’s cross bunting (“de buntings”, as she charmingly called it) with EU flags. Andy had to retire to the shed to stop his nostrils flaring furiously. Meanwhile, Pauline put a framed photo of Farage on Kat’s mantelpiece and hid a Farage gnome in her garden.
When they weren’t point-scoring or squabbling, the women came to respect the other’s views. In raw video diary footage, both were moved to tears. As Kat concluded: “Being angry and resentful to people is why we’re here in the first place.”
We left with her throwing Farage’s grinning visage on the fire – but the gnome still peeped out of the shrubbery, yet to be discovered. A metaphor for Farage lying in wait to retake the Ukip leadership? Probably not, no.
It was a strange time for the reality favourite to return. Why not air this around last summer’s referendum? Some of the production machinations also seemed gratuitously antagonistic. As a potential prelude for a full comeback, though, this was a rollicking reminder of what made Wife Swap so grimly compelling first time around. Just don’t mention Brexit over dinner.
‘It’s the last unregulated great bazaar,” said a besuited banker in the scene-setting speech. “The last Wild West.” What is? London’s property market? MPS’ expenses? No, according to Riviera (Sky Atlantic), it’s the art market – the backdrop to this glamorous thriller.
When shady billionaire Constantine Clios (Anthony Lapaglia) was blown to smithereens aboard a superyacht off the Côte d’azur, his widow Georgina (Julia Stiles) began to uncover his murky secrets. Besides, was he really dead? Roll Bond film-esque credits and throw mega-budget at the screen.
This was a hedonistic world of champagne, cocaine and high-end escorts who resembled fashion models. Of oligarchs and arms dealers with spoilt children and scheming ex-wives. Characters thought little of spending $30million on a Malevich painting for their Monaco mansion or squeezing in one more Martini before their private jet departed.
The 10-part series certainly had head-turning credentials. Created by Oscar winner Neil Jordan and cowritten by Booker Prize winner John Banville, the script should have soared but was disappointingly pedestrian. It aimed for hard-boiled noir but landed in Footballers’ Wives territory.
Visually, it looked like an aspirational travel programme as locations hopped between New York, London and the South of France. Dressing gowns rippled silkily, bedroom curtains billowed suggestively and sunglasses were rarely removed.
Riviera has been billed as “this year’s answer to The Night Manager” but isn’t up to that standard. It’s not blessed with a supporting cast of Tom Hollander and Olivia Colman’s calibre, for a start, let alone the masterly writing of John le Carré. It’s stylish but so far, not smart enough.
However, The Night Manager also started slowly, so Riviera might be worth sticking with. It’s already a holiday for the eyes. Now it just needs to transport our imaginations, too.
Wife Swap: Brexit Special Riviera