The best joke about the new BBC4 “Reality TV” series Close To The Edge, has already been made by the BBC, unofficially sub-titling it “The Only Way Is Bournemouth.”
Having watched the opening two episodes , SoSensational thinks “Made In Hampshire” would be a more accurate sub-title for this 7-part series set in the Dorset (but still regarded by long-time residents as Hampshire) town of Bournemouth and looking at the lives of 16 mainly single (i.e. widowed and divorced) residents, all aged over 65.
But regardless of what we call it, the genre is known as “scripted reality” and it follows the lives of a new (for TV) demographic, which the corporation is beginning to realise is of value in terms of audience share – and about time, too, says SoSensational.
After Channel 4 followed the vapid lives of rich, young over-privileged trustafarians in “Made In Chelsea” and ITV followed the vapid lives of rich, young, overconfident orange people in “The Only Way Is Essex”/AKA TOWIE, the BBC has turned its cameras on this group of lively older men and older women in Bournemouth. It is Scripted Reality because the show’s producers don’t trust real people to say what they want them to say in order to generate story lines which will be discussed around the water-cooler at the office the next day.
The main characters are John, 72, a widower with a Michael Parkinsonian head of hair who is advised by Paul early in Episode 1 to take off his “terrible hat” and then goes on the pull in the local Tesco, where he is rebuffed by the stunning, silver-haired Faye and her equally glamorous chum, Katie.
Other “characters” include bouncy businesswoman Babs busily promoting her Baby Keepsake Boxes at a launch party to which her annoying friend, or in “Reality-TV parlance, “frenemy,” Chris, 68, has invited Vanessa, the local UKIP fundraiser with a past…
As SoSensational is a fashion and beauty website, dedicated to making the Edge generation look sensational. We applaud this effort from the BBC and especially applaud the sensational eyewear and brilliant blonde bob worn by Dee, a totally unbelievable 81, who goes on a date with John, the inevitable breakout star of Edge, and is taken on a zip-wire ride and out for Fish & Chips where (the undoubtedly scripted) question she poses is: does he take Viagra. SoSensational also loves Faye’s silver-grey gamine haircut and sky-blue coat and friend Katie’s utterly glam leather coat draped with a fur scarf. Babs looks younger and prettier in the light brown faux fur gilet she wears in a street scene than she looks in the glittery monochrome outfit she wears to her Baby Keepsake Box launch party – it’s all about the colour, you see.
We enjoyed “meeting” Beate and Jan, too, who took John for a male makeover after deeming his launch-party outfit of bright-orange blazer, maroon trousers and psychedelic tie, incompatible with his dating ambitions.
If the aim is not to laugh at this group but to show that, as John says in the opening credits, “Some of us still have big dreams and want second chances” then SoSensational will keep watching with interest – we want to see the clothes and hairstyles after all…
Did you see the programme? Who do you think will be the star? We’d love to know what you think about it in the Comment section below.
Close To The Edge,BBC4, Tuesdays at 10pm
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