You the Jury: Nick Johns and Benita Matofska
- Published: 01 July 2008 15:14
- Last Updated: 01 July 2008 15:14
- Reader Responses
Nick Johns and Benita Matofska look at the latest TV shows.
Over at BBC3's Britain's Missing Top Model, someone has obviously consulted his bumper book of model elimination formats. Group of wannabe models - check. Glitzy penthouse apartment - check. Panel of catty fashion insiders - check. One tearful hopeful kissing her catwalk dream goodbye - check. I couldn't help wondering whether I'd seen it all before.
Turns out, perhaps I hadn't. There is something about the show that feels genuinely innovative. The fashion professionals are surprisingly realistic about the prospects for a disabled model in their industry; the girls are a compelling bunch particularly when comparing notes on living with their disabilities; and, what the hell, I'm a sucker for a reality show and this feels like a good one.
An examination of teenage anorexia and the pressure on children to watch their weight wouldn't normally find its way onto my must-watch list but I'm pleased that I persevered with Sky Real Lives' Too Young to Diet.
Authored by Emily Smith, herself a childhood anorexic, the documentary takes a compassionate look at the difficulties facing children growing up in our image-conscious, diet-obsessed society. The programme is most effective when we hear from the children themselves. Whether it's 10-year-old Teleisha admitting that she religiously counts calories even though she isn't entirely sure what they are or 15-year-old Katie confessing that she's swapped tips with classmates on making herself sick, their voices are powerful, honest and absolutely horrifying.
In May, the Government released classified documents about the Berwyn incident of 1974. Did they reveal any new clues about the mysterious occurrence that rocked a sleepy Welsh village and has been claimed by UFO enthusiasts to be proof positive of an alien attack? Ummmm, well, sadly no, they didn't.
Which really didn't help Britain's Closest Encounters, a bizarre combination of brilliantly hammy reconstructions, earnest voice-over and expert contributions from lots of blokes with beards. This Five documentary takes a long hard look at the incident which has been dubbed a British Roswell and manages to reveal the sum total of absolutely sod all. David Duchovny can sleep easy. The truth may be out there… but it's not in this programme.
Nick Johns is head of development at Whizz Kid Entertainment
The title Britain's Missing Top Model wouldn't have lured me to BBC3's new offering, but once there, I was happy to discover that this was a disabled beauty competition. Immediately, I was sold on the subject but not the format. Which of the eight pretties would win the competition wasn't enough to draw me back for six episodes. Sure, it's well produced, ticks the casting boxes, has a winning mix of drama, tears and tension, (who deserves this the most? An amputee or a deaf girl?) but no emotional sweetener could transcend the rigid, made-for-TV construct. The Alan Sugar character is Red or Dead's Wayne Hemingway and the models get a dressing down for not taking a "good photo".
Still, in a post-Apprentice world, it's hard to make an original elimination format. What I yearned for was a Cutting Edge approach - a good old access doc to take me into the world of the disabled model.
Conversely, Sky Real Lives' Too Young to Diet puts format aside and focuses on what's genuinely important. Former anorexic and film-maker Emily Smith takes us on an authored journey through the shocking landscape of youth eating disorders. With 70% of British girls aged between eight and 13 obsessing over their weight, it makes a riveting watch. The film follows compelling characters like Zack (nine) with his rigorous push-ups regime and Katie (15) who "learned how to be sick from friends". Dieting is well-mined territory, but the author engaged me in a film that is intelligent and real.
"Real" is clearly the issue in the first episode of Five's new four-part series Britain's Closest Encounters. Promising to provide fresh perspectives into the UK's most baffling UFO stories, it fails on all fronts for me. I'll admit that I'd rather watch dancing monkeys than hear about extraterrestrial sightings, but having sat down on a Sunday night to review this, I was willing it to prove me wrong.
I was introduced to the "Welsh Roswell", an incident in 1974 where Berwyn locals reported seeing bright lights in the sky. The story-telling is unclear, the script dull, the effects predictable. The only highlight for me was the revelation that since people have started using Chinese lanterns for barbeques, the numbers of UFO sightings has increased. Still, it wasn't worth sacrificing Brothers and Sisters for.
Benita Matofska is the creative director of Electric Sky Productions
