The Seven Sins of England

[Andy the Don]

I found the programme very good & hard to remember that the people appearing were not actors. I even recognised some of the areas in which they were filming (Wimbledon, Blackheath). But the subtext of the programme was that the English have always been boozy, violent, rude & bigoted people. Who will never change not matter how much "PC" is hoisted on them.

 

[keithy]

I quite liked the idea of using non-actors, and how well it worked. I loved that they would stumble sometimes with their reading, and they would put on a certain voice/attitude when they were reading. I liked it.

 

[Fruitloop]

I thought it was great. I liked the choice of readers, even more so the choice of quotes. And yeah it did definitely have its depressing moments.

 

[Mrs Bradley]

Turned it off

was shit

Couldn't agree more...absolute bollocks

 

[STFC]

That short twat in the club in Romford was an actor, surely?

 

[kyser_soze]

Didn't see that one, but I'd be very surprised if there were any...well surprises in it - as Andy The Don points out, we've long been a boozy, xenophobic and agressive nation so it's no great surprise that nothing's changed really.

I'm looking forward to the one on Consumerism personally.

I'd be interested to see them expand the concept to other European nations as well tho.

 

[STFC]

It was a one off wasn't it? I thought they covered all all seven sins last night, although admittedly I wasn't paying close attention.

 

[kyser_soze]

Was it a one off? Oh, I'll have to dl it...

 

[Fruitloop]

Yep, they did all seven. It was good I thought - worth a dl anyway.

 

[Flashman]

That short twat in the club in Romford was an actor, surely?

Just a talented roofer called Craig Smith apparently. He did very well I think.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Nothing's changed - including us being Number One ranking 'Sandwich Board/Doomsayers' nation in the world... I think the only difference between the UK and anywhere else is that we look for negatives more than anywhere else. E.g. my friend lives in Finland, and he says it beats the UK hands down for bingeing and fighting, yet you never hear the sort of "We're doomed" talk from Finns that you get in the UK media...

 

[raggamuffin]

8th sin watching too much crap TV.

Awfull, no more half efforts at documentary for me, I'm just sticking to comedy shows..

Better off enjoying my time than pretending to get an experience.

 

[Orang Utan]

I thought this was an excellent programme - it proved a simple point yes, but it was so well done - my flatmate thought it was one of the best things C4 have ever done.
The readers were excellent - so natural sounding - they must have workshopped the fuck out of it.

 

[Azrael]

It proved that people have always complained about dissolute youth. This isn't news. It didn't investigate their claims further, or most importantly, examine the extent of such behaviour. Nor, perhaps most importantly of all, did it have anything to say about the changing consequences of thuggery. T

All it did was get a bunch of pissed up ne'er-do-wells to quote yesteryear's condemnation of pissed up ne'er-do-wells. As a technical exercise (ie, in getting the scallies to memorise and repeat chunks of antique language) it was mildly impressive. Beyond that it was very depressing; most of all in its fueling of the thugs' self-justification. I'd call it reckless if it wasn't for the knowledge that hardly anyone would be watching it.

Claiming that nothing ever changes and that today's odious anti-social thuggery is some universal constant is lazy a-historical nonsense, most frequently offered by metropolitan elites who don't have to endure the consequences of such behaviour. To suggest that mindless brutality is synonymous with liberty is downright idiotic, and suggests that producer and subject are well suited to one another.