Mike Smith and Jason Langley

Mike Smith

I wonder how the campaigners who battled for the creation of Channel 4 would judge the success of their vision based on these three programmes.

This week’s Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares happily reunited Gordon with a sea bass. This one looked sad and unappetising and the -restaurateur and kitchen staff responsible felt Ramsay’s rod on their backs. The reason: their pricey fish restaurant a hundred metres from the sea in Brighton served Ramsay a sea bass which he could instantly detect had been farmed - in Greece.

Of course celebrity chefs can be lampooned but the secret of the show is that it isn’t a -programme about food at all. It is about rejecting mediocrity, forcing people out of denial and making sure that at the heart of an enterprise people really care about delivering excellence. Ramsay has become the new patron saint of this kind of tough truth-talking and is therefore an ideal face for C4, embodying the spirit of making trouble and inspiring change. Who is the equivalent for our own business?
When C4 began its life maybe we were still a nation of shopkeepers. Now programmes like Property Ladder make it feel as if we’re a nation of property developers.

Watching Sarah Beeny alongside Ramsay does her show no favours. “The decor is tired and the layout just doesn’t work,” she said about a place a couple were about to sink their savings into.
I was feeling much the same about this format. This has become mashed-potato telly: seen one, you’ve seen them all - and it could be on any channel.

You can’t say that of Britz. C4’s founding campaigners must have dreamt that people like Peter Kosminsky would use the channel to make dramas like this new two-parter. You can spot pretty much everything here that C4 was set up to do: plurality (we get the story from two viewpoints in each feature-length episode), innovation (in form) and distinctiveness (this is much more real and provocative than Spooks and certainly nothing like most commercial TV).

If creative renewal at C4 means more shows like Britz then even Gordon Ramsay let loose into the C4 boardroom effing and blinding couldn’t accuse anyone responsible of mediocrity.
Mike Smith is the executive producer of C4’s Big Art Project and co-founder of Carbon

Jason Langley

Gordon Ramsay storms back onto our screen with the fourth series of Kitchen Nightmares. With an opening line of “He ain’t God, he’s Gordon Ramsay - screw him” from one down-on-his-luck restaurateur, it’s clear that the latest serving of the chef’s wisdom is as volatile as ever.

Gordon sharpens his knives while delivering a cutting piece to camera and this slick production delivers all that is Brand Ramsay - no-nonsense business advice, a touch of sensitivity and a reveal that makes the tantrums worthwhile.

This particular Ramsay vehicle has little to do with food - it’s relegated to a minor role somewhere backstage. It’s the emotional roller-coaster of the restaurateur which is centre stage. However, I struggle to recall a previous episode where the restaurateur was quite so desperate - and quite so off the rails.

But if Gordon’s charm has been concentrated, it must be said that Sarah Beeny’s Property Ladder seems somewhat diluted, as she returns with the latest run of the 60-minute format. For me, this is one extension too many and seems to be C4’s blatant attempt to retain an audience by just giving it more of the same.

As C4 celebrates its 25th anniversary, it’s difficult to see how these big returning series deliver their objectives to “foster the new and experimental in television”. These are audience-grabbers, through and through. However, the same cannot be said of Britz, the two-part drama written and directed by Peter Kosminsky.

The drama follows the lives of a brother and sister who are first generation British-born Muslims. It skilfully sets the issues of love, friendship and idealism against a backdrop which expertly explores the myriad issues involved in the war on terror. I finished watching it feeling informed yet entertained.

It is, perhaps, no accident these programmes have been selected for review at a time when C4’s remit is being scrutinised. Is the balance between audience-grabbing hits and thought-provoking TV at the heart of the channel’s -success? Get viewers in with a bit of Gordon, keep them long enough to get hooked on Kosminsky? I think this is the case and, as we move to a fragmented world of viewing, perhaps this will be C4’s true strength in the delivery of its remit.
Jason Langley is commercial director of Audio Network

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