It’s Not Easy Being Green (8pm, BBC2). But it’s a doddle compared to making decent TV. This is the worst ever attempt to tackle the green agenda on TV. Its so bad it might get an award for kitch.
The eco-doc series returned to BBC2 for a third run in an awkward new magazine format, after fashioning itself into a programme with no discernible purpose.
Seasons one and two of the show concerned themselves with the Strawbridge family’s efforts to marry creed with comfort, as they set out to build a environmentally-friendly life on a Cornish farm.
All well and good, if you like that sort of thing.
But series three isn’t at all well and good, even if you do like that sort of thing.
It’s aimless, grey telly: a mish-mash of this and that, which winds up looking like one of those non-specific stews dished up in a 1980s veggie cafe.
We find the family still hard at it with green DIY. Last night, they were putting solar panels on the roof, to go with the wind turbines and the eco-khazi.
But now they’ve been joined by an unusually lacklustre Lauren Laverne, who Reports On Stuff.
Yesterday, it was green swimming pools. She had the air of someone who had been lied to by the producer.
There’s also a bit about a London couple trying to renovate their house in the Strawbridge style, and a lifeless segment which calculates a celebrity’s carbon footprint.
First up was Phil Tufnell, who may as well borrow Krusty the Clown’s “Will Drop Pants For Food” placard.
Holding it all together – just – is the extravagantly mustachioed Dick Strawbridge, who looks like Willie Thorne’s Walloonian cousin.
Dick’s a bombardment of bonhomie who greets strangers with bear hugs and erupts into great gales of crippling laughter at light-hearted small-talk.
It would be quite gratifying to meet Dick. He’d make a manic depressive feel like the life and soul of the party.
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I will admit some of the features are short of telling you anything useful (e.g. collecting rain water in episode 3, showed lifting a tank over 3/4 garden fences, but didn’t mention how the tank and house were connected up). That said all credit to Dick annd family, they are living the lifestyle not just talking about it. I would guess they are paying for the eco upgrades to their home as well, Dick winced at the cost of the solar panels they installed.
Great show, a bit more useful info next time.
I’m glad I’m not the only one irritated by this awful programme. Strawbridge is pretty smart to get the BBC (and us license payers) to pay him to upgrade his house. Me, I’m just annoyed the BBC fell for this and wasted my money.
I didn’t manage to catch this program, but it sounds like they’re trying (and failing) to make a British version of the highly sucsessful Irish ‘EcoEye’, presented by Duncan Stewart (an environmentally minded architect).
It’s been going on for years and I’d say he’s done a great job in presenting ecologically sound solutions to the general public.
He also presents ‘About the House’, which is a bit like an environmental ‘Grand Designs’. I try my best not to miss these programs whenever they’re on.
https://www.rte.ie/tv/aboutthehouse/index.html
https://www.rte.ie/tv/ecoeye/about.html