Chancers BBC1, 10.35pm Seven Days That Shook EastEnders C4. 9.00pm
The great, the good, and the grisly have had a fine old time with Chancers. If righteous indignation happens to be your hobby, this was the series for you. Drugs, drink, neds, bad words, and a TV crew: all the ills of the world from the comfort of your armchair. Some people have not stopped to think once, far less twice, before popping their tops.
What did this six-parter purport to show? To begin with, 21 young men of the sort for whom sharp shocks and the neighbourhood watch were invented. These were lives at the end of the line before the first important stop. The Airborne Initiative and its Borders camp were their last chance. It was this or prison. As TV goes, you would have to call that an interesting choice.
These were not pleasant young men. Between them they might have mustered a crayon sketch for a brain and no-one pretended otherwise. Yet, because the series did not attempt to conceal the nature of its subjects, what is known as an ''outcry'' duly went up. People saw what they wanted to see.
They missed two things. First, a careful, even delicate, film by Julian Kean. Secondly, they missed the real, preposterously difficult work of the Airborne Initiative: not merely to rehabilitate; not simply to teach lessons; but to show these young hoodlums how they might acquire consciences. Think about it: where would you start?
Last night, nine survivors reached the end of the road. With the effortless facility that has marked their lives, they almost cocked it up on the
50km ''Big Trip'' across rough country. Yet lost, cursing, on the dodge and off the wall, they somehow met the challenge. ''That's what we're here fur,'' said one, unconvincingly, ''to overcome aw oor f****** problems
n' that.''
The series ended with the news that only a handful among the group that began the course have, in fact, done any such thing. At ''graduation'', Alan Rutherford, chair of the Airborne trust, said: ''We now believe that we've got a formula that works.'' It didn't work for Brian, though, who is now back in prison. It didn't work for Zander, currently on remand. But what's the criterion for success? Twenty-one upright citizens or one chancer redeemed? This was journalism to a purpose.
It's more, encyclopaedic volumes more, than you could say about Seven Days in the Life of EastEnders. Let's call it parasite television. First, the BBC launches a soap that seems destined to fail. Then the Sun takes ''a strategic decision'' - I'm not kidding - to throw its resources behind the thing. Then the Beeb begins to feed the tabloid maw, starting with a
judicious leak revealing
that Leslie Grantham has been a convicted killer in
''real life''. Drug hells and suicides among the cast follow. Then C4 makes a cheap, pointless, lip-smacking documentary about the whole sorry mess.
Put it this way: I know who I would dispatch to the Airborne Initiative.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article