Binging for charity

Ross Fisher wonders how Charity and debauchery can coincide

12 pints later

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RED Nose Day has come around once again, and thousands of people have put time and effort into raising millions for Comic Relief. Leading this effort as always was the BBC, with a broad blanket of programs across every license fee-funded medium. Perhaps the most interesting show was the as-yet unexploded bomb that was the BBC Three special.

BBC Three was launched in 2003, and in the evening borrows the terrestrial bandwidth that is CBBC during the day. It barely received government approval in the first place, and has frequently come under fire from people such as The Times’ Camilla Cavendish.

The special program featured the cast of its mainstay shows Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and Coming of Age – the sixth form sitcom – along with a motley crew of other BBC Three stars. The majority of the show took place in a pub where, even though references were made to the sixth formers’ ages, they were not questioned.

The focus of the show revolved around a contest between the three groups mentioned above. This contest required the teams to put forward members to take part in three challenges: a ‘bitch off’, a ‘drink off’ and a ‘flirt off’. The ‘bitch off’ ended with bullying and tears, the ‘drink off’ ended with the winner collapsing, and the ‘flirt off’ ended with a young girl asking Will Mellor’s character ‘Shall we go outside, and you can put your dick in me?’ She was awarded 10 out of 10. After a winner had been declared, the show closed with a musical number whose main lyric was ‘stop thinking, start drinking.’

I personally am not keen on hunting for witches, and I can certainly see the funny side of the show. However, I cannot help but wonder who it was that thought that this would be a good idea for a charity broadcast, even more so who pitched it to the BBC editorial body, and even more so what was going through the mind of said editors when they brought back a smiling ‘yes’ verdict.

The BBC should have been wary of releasing a show like this. After all it hasn’t been all too long since comedian Russell Brand and talk-show host Jonathon Ross found themselves on the wrong end of a media storm. Other high visibility broadcasters such as DJ Chris Moyles and the hosts of Top Gear (a life-size cardboard cut out of Jeremy Clarkson appears frequently in ‘Coming of age’) have regularly come under fire for inappropriate comments, and all this is in a context where the BBC has been accused of ‘dumbing down’.

It might be true to say that they are appealing more to their target demographic, and even to say that such an open-minded approach to potentially insulting material is refreshing in an age that seems to be preoccupied with protocol and political correctness. Nonetheless, the question remains whether this is the appropriate message for the BBC to be sending out as a charity special. I’m sure we’ll find out one way the other soon enough.