Carry On Barging (Channel 5 Friday 8-30)

When I joined the Rust I made it clear I was not going to review celebrity/ reality tv programmes as I do not watch them. However a few years ago I met Lorraine Chase at a health farm of all places (as she is so slender) and we kept in touch. On a whim I emailed her yesterday and she replied with her news and told me she was on a programme called Carry On Barging on Channel 5. Four celebs (how I hate that word) Debbie Magee, widow of Paul Daniels, actors Simon Callow and Nigel Havers, and herself navigate 2 barges up the Kennet and Avon and the Llangollen canals. The programme was of interest as seeing England and Wales by its waterways is rather a hidden secret and we certainly saw some beautiful places and characters of canal life. Lorraine was perky, involved, energised and certainly put in a stint in mooring the barge or moving a bridge.

At one stage they had to navigate 29 locks one after another. Simon Callow was, well Simon Callow, and Nigel Havers the floppy haired toff he has made his trademark. I felt both would be stimulating company, albeit in confined areas.

My problem with reality tv or ‘fly on the wall’ documentaries is that the misleading impression is given that the characters are unaware of the tv rolling. They are and behave quite differently. At one part Lorraine nicks an apple from a tree from a chap who has a small farm shop. He comes out and described his hens etc. This was quite obviously contrived. The other aspect I don’t like is the voyeurism. Simon Callow spoke to camera of the need to be alone even in his marriage. Well, if it means so much to you, Simon, why are you on such a programme speaking to camera and tv audience about it?

The programme ended with a hilarious sequence – possibly also contrived – of Lorraine, feet on land arms outstretched on barge, slowly descending into the water below. She was the first to laugh but sadly for her she sustained a more serious injury when absailing in a future episode.

I probably enjoyed the programme primarily for seeing agood friend on the tv but I did think it was something more than yet another derivative of celeb reality programming.