By Joanna Biernat (Published Palatinate 2011)
Last Wednesday saw episode 8 of the ITV2 documentary soap opera ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ light up our screens. For those of you who don’t know, this ten-part British answer to ‘The Hills’ focuses on a group of well-off, well-connected and well-orange twenty somethings going about their lives and careers in Essex. The cast of characters includes Mark Wright, nightclub promoter and his aspiring pop star sister Jessica, Kirk Norcross, owner of Brentwood’s swanky ‘Sugar Hut’ nightclub and Amy Childs, a big hearted beautician with the musings of an ill-informed child. Interestingly the show’s opening assures us that ‘While the tans you see might be fake the people are all real, although some of what they do has been set up purely for your entertainment’. So that’s fake people in fake storylines. Glad we cleared that one up.
In last week’s largely fictional storyline it all kicked off in Kirk and Amy’s already troubled relationship. Kirk met with the slightly horse-faced DJ Lauren Pope and we witnessed some inexcusably flirtatious hand-fondling and the mention of a drink. Of course who should very inconveniently and unpredictably walk in and catch it all, but Amy’s best mate Sam. Oh dear! Of course this all led to some confrontation by a very hurt Amy towards the end of the episode, which left the nation divided as to whether Kirk was indeed out of order or not. After all, as he put it ‘we’ve tried to work it out and it ain’t working out’. I for one hope it does work out so we can see more dates to the zoo.
In last week’s largely fictional storyline it all kicked off in Kirk and Amy’s already troubled relationship. Kirk met with the slightly horse-faced DJ Lauren Pope and we witnessed some inexcusably flirtatious hand-fondling and the mention of a drink. Of course who should very inconveniently and unpredictably walk in and catch it all, but Amy’s best mate Sam. Oh dear! Of course this all led to some confrontation by a very hurt Amy towards the end of the episode, which left the nation divided as to whether Kirk was indeed out of order or not. After all, as he put it ‘we’ve tried to work it out and it ain’t working out’. I for one hope it does work out so we can see more dates to the zoo.
On the bright side of Brentwood, there were even more exciting things occurring. Jessica’s band LOLA signed a deal with new management promising a chart single within the next few weeks. As the show is filmed in real time, perhaps this is one band to watch out for? Then of course the adorable Arg and his ex/ love of his life Lydia, decided to ‘give it another try’ which was heart-warming television at its best.
Admittedly though, this show does have its faults. The struggle to believe that some of the most inexpressive dialogue is spontaneous presents a barrier to truly getting lost in plot, while the Essex boy and girl stereotype pushed by the producers could be considered a little crass. Despite this however, I find that watching TOWIE is increasingly addictive. Maybe it’s those pearls of wisdom from the loveable yet somewhat crinkled Nanny Pat, the ludicrous eyelash and hair extensions, or maybe it’s just because I fancy Mark. Nonetheless here we’re witnessing the fundamentals of any good drama, even if they are hard to pick out under that thick orange sheen of fake tan. There’s conflict, intrigue, love-triangles and young romance. What more could we hope for from ITV2?
As for those who are worried TOWIE misrepresents their hometown of Essex as some tawdry stereotype, well I'm not going to lie to you, we were all picturing this anyway. If anything, the ironic candour captured by the cameras has added a new popularity to that cheeky Essex charm prevalent in the show. Obviously not everyone in Essex thinks the capital of India is Pakistan or glamour models topless, just as not everyone in Kazakhstan is an anti-Semite called Borat. My advice is this: if you can’t watch this cheerfully tongue-in-cheek ‘docu-soap’ and take it with a pinch of salt, then you probably shouldn’t be allowed in front of the telly in the first place as you might accidentally sever your own head with the remote.
